


The Skeleton and the Pauper

by Book_Warrior7, Singing_Dream



Series: Alternate Skies [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (Younger) Kid May, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bits of fluff between the huge amounts of angst, Blood, Dark Humor, Dark Past, F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, June is basically a little ball of angst, Kid June, POV Sans, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Sassy, Suicide Attempt, This one is pretty dark for me, Unconventional Families, Undertale Mages - Freeform, WHY ARE MY TAGS ALWAYS SO LONG?!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-11-29 18:13:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11446308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_Warrior7/pseuds/Book_Warrior7, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singing_Dream/pseuds/Singing_Dream
Summary: Sans knows that every timeline is a little different. Something between the Resets makes it so that each one is just the slightest bit different, no matter how many times he and Frisk go through the motions...no matter which motions they are. However, he's thrown for a loop when, for the first time out of every timeline he or Frisk have ever lived through, the kid gets hurt from their fall and Toriel has to take care of them.Sans is again thrown when it turns out, the kid Toriel is taking care of isn't even Frisk.





	1. Chapter 1

Sans sighed as he made his way towards the door. He knew what today was. The kid had Reset again, and today was the day they would walk through the door. Whether they would walk through as they normally did, if they came through covered in Dust, or if they even walked through at all and the world just Reset all over again was up in the air. But Sans was really starting to drag from the whole thing. But as he stood in front of the door, debating on turning back and just going home and giving up this time around, something in his non-existent gut told him he needed to knock on the door and check on Toriel. So he sighed again and raised a fist to knock.

“knock knock,” he said, sounding as cool as he usually did. To his surprise, he actually got an answer.

“Who is there?” replied Toriel, sounding…very pleased about something. What could that be about?

“goat.”

“Goat who?”

“you’ve _goat_ ta open the door ta find out.”

Toriel barked a laugh, but took it in stride. Which was pretty unlike her, all things considered. Any stab at getting her to open the door usually didn’t end well. Had the kid finally changed their mind about trying to leave the Underground and decided to stay with Toriel?

“You know that is not going to happen.”

“worth a try. so, what’s got ya so damn chipper?”

“You remember how I challenged you to protect any humans that came through this door yesterday?”

“yeah? what of it?”

“Well, I may not need to hold you to that challenge.”

Sans paused. Maybe the kid really had decided to stay down here with Toriel. He had no idea why, since she was pretty damn crazy, but if that’s what the kid wanted…

“why not?”

“Because a human fell down after I issued that challenge yesterday.”

Well, here it came. The kid had decided to stay (for whatever damn reason) and Toriel was pleased to tell him about it.

“They were greatly injured when I found them, but I have managed to heal them. However, I do not know when they will wake up, so if they awaken while I am here with you, I will have to leave immediately. I would like to apologize in advance.”

…wait, what? The kid had never been injured before!

“what? that’s…what the hell? how’d ya find ‘em? what happened?”

“I did my rounds as I usually do to see if anyone had fallen, and when I came to the furthest end of the Ruins, I found the child laying there. They had fallen into the mountain from a hole in the cavern ceiling, and their body was quite broken from the fall. I first believed they had not survived, but upon closer inspection, I noticed the child was still breathing, so I rushed them back to my home and healed them. It was an exhausting night, but the child will live. I look forward to when the child awakens.”

Well this was news. Had Frisk almost died on the fall down this time? Having seen the distance Frisk fell every time they Reset, he knew it was a shock and a miracle that they survived the fall. But Frisk had once confessed to him that, despite the incredible fall, they were never hurt on the way down or anything. And for them to get hurt this one time and barely survive? It didn’t seem likely. So who was Toriel talking about? Who was the kid now staying with the former queen?

“ya might wanna hold off on the excitement, lady. whoever they are, this kid…they might wanna go home. ya know, back ta the surface. once they wake up, i mean. what are ya gonna do if that happens?”

Sans wanted to warn her, but if this was some new unknown element, there was no way to tell how the kid would react to any of this. Especially if the kid was unconscious when Toriel found them. And besides, what would he tell her? How could he warn her against something he wasn’t sure how to fight?

There was a long, tense pause before Toriel spoke, but Sans could tell she hadn’t thought of that, and the cheer was a little more forced now.

“Then I will ask them what they would like to do. If they would like to stay, then I will let them stay, no questions asked. If they would like to leave…I will cross that bridge when I get there.”

Damn. A very Toriel answer, so he wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but damn. He at least tried. Whatever happened now was up to her and the kid…whoever this kid was.

“alright, if you say so, lady…”

After that, they swapped jokes and insults like usual, but Sans left the door at his usual time less than reassured. So Toriel was alive a day longer than usual. But this human…it was very likely not Frisk. So who was it? How would they react when they woke up? Where the hell was Frisk, and what happened to them?

Just what should he expect from here on out if it was a new kid after all?

The next day, he again arrived at the door and heaved a sigh, his anxiety over Toriel and this new human eating at him until now. After another anxiety-filled moment, he forces himself to raise a hand and knock on the door like usual.

“knock knock.”

“Who is there?”

So Toriel was alive still. Well that was a relief. But then, what happened to the new human…?

“control freak.”

“Control –”

“you’re supposed ta say ‘control freak, who?’”

Toriel snorted a laugh, a proper one, and he felt the knot in his chest loosen a little. She was still in a good mood, it seemed, so…good news?

“You have used that one before.”

“gotta run outta material eventually.”

“I suppose that is true.”

“so, anythin’ new on this human? ya sound pretty cheerful again, so i’m guessin’ it’s somethin’ good.”

“Nothing yet. But I swear I thought I saw them twitch and their eyelids flutter today. I have high hopes that they will awaken sometime soon.”

Sans wasn’t sure if that was good news or bad news yet. But since Toriel was so optimistic, it would be hard to dissuade her. But with the news technically being no news, he dropped it and continued their usual banter of jokes and insults until he went home, where the anxiety over the situation continued.

The next day, when Sans went to the door and knocked, there was no answer. His anxiety got significantly worse, but no matter how long he stood there and knocked, waiting and practicing his insults and knock knock jokes, there was no answer. Eventually, he had to leave. His anxiety was particularly bad that night, worrying about what the new human might have done to Toriel.

It took a lot of effort the next day, but he made himself go to the door again. After yesterday, he wasn’t expecting an answer when he knocked weakly.

“knock knock,” he sighed half-heartedly.

“Hello?” a new voice asked through the door, startling Sans. This one was higher and rougher than Toriel’s voice, and it could only be assumed this was the voice of the new human. He froze, unsure what to do. If it was Frisk (which he seriously doubted), this was the first time he’d heard their voice. And it made no sense for them to have stayed in the Ruins after dealing with Toriel…one way, or another.

“uh…i…you’re…not who i was expecting,” he finally got out, earning a snort from the other side of the door.

“Yeah, wasn’t exactly expecting this myself. So, uh…you’re…a monster? Like Toriel?”

So the kid knew enough to recognize monsters, eh? But that didn’t answer his unspoken question of what happened to Toriel, and he couldn’t just ask, should word of his mysterious and seemingly sudden knowledge of Toriel’s identity through the door reach her somehow. All he had to do was play it cool with this new human…

“uh, i’ve got no idea who this…’toriel’ is. but yeah, i’m a monster. everyone down here is. but, uh, question. the lady who normally comes to this door…where is she? what happened to her?”

“Lady…? Oh, you mean…no, you and me are talking about the same person, I think. I’m actually standing in a hallway underneath Toriel’s house, so it’s pretty safe to assume she’s the lady you’re talking about. I’m guessing she just never told you her name. Why, I don’t know, but since it’s not really my business…um, you normally meet her here? Like, at this time, every day or something?”

“yeah, more or less. why?”

“Because she’s not actually here right now. She went out to get some things. At least, that’s what she told me. She also told me not to leave my room and then locked the door. I’m just…I don’t know exactly what she’s gonna do if she comes back and finds that I’m not in the room like she wanted. And I get the feeling from the way she acted that she’s not really…all there in the head, you know?”

Damn, kid was perceptive. They – she, maybe, from how feminine the voice sounded – could tell they were in trouble. But if what they were telling him was true, then Toriel was at least alive, and the kid hadn’t done anything to her. That was good news, but he wasn’t sure if he could trust this kid or not. Still, gotta keep them talking. He kinda wanted to know what Toriel would do when she found them down here, too.

“yeah, kinda. but we don’t talk much about personal stuff. just swap insults and jokes. speakin’ of…knock knock,” he added, knocking on the door again. There was a pause before a snort came from behind the door.

“Really?”

They sounded amused already.

“humor me, kid.”

“How do you know I’m a kid?”

“the lady kept callin’ ya a child. had ta assume.”

Another pause, then a soft _hmph._

“Well, she’s not wrong, so neither are you. But anyway…fine. Who’s there?”

Sans grinned to himself. This could be good.

“yah.”

“Yah who?”

“had no idea you were so excited ta talk ta me.”

There was a brief pause, then a giggle drifted through the door, light and feminine. It was a rather soothing sound, actually, and the skeleton’s grin grew wider.

“That was so bad.”

“yer laughin’ ain’t ya?”

The human giggled again, and despite himself, Sans felt himself relaxing. This kid didn’t seem so bad…

“So, what, are you some kind of comedian?”

“somethin’ like that. what about you? way ya asked ‘bout if i was a monster…ya make it sound like you’re not one.”

“That’s…because I’m not. I’m human, actually.”

“really? huh. never seen a human myself,” he lied easily, shrugging as he sat down against the door. “what do ya look like?”

“Yeah, really. I guess humans don’t come down here often, do they? But, uh, my appearance…I’m not sure I should tell you that,” the kid replied, a new cautious edge to their voice. Smart kid.

“fair enough. and no, they really don’t. insult or joke?”

“Huh?”

“i come down here every day ta practice my jokes and insults. so which do ya wanna hear? insult or joke?”

“Oh,” they replied softly after a hesitation. “Um…joke, I guess.”

“alright. knock knock.”

The kid snorted again when he knocked on the door, but their answer came more readily this time than the first.

“Who’s there?”

“yoda lady.”

“Yoda lady…oh my god,” they laughed, getting it even before they could get to the phonetic play on words. “You _cannot_ be serious.”

“joke’s not funny if ya don’t finish it, kid.”

“Okay, okay. Yoda lady who?”

“didn’t know ya could yodel.”

The human snorted sharply, followed by what was obviously stifled laughter.

“Your jokes are awful,” they said, and he could hear the smile in their voice. He grinned himself and chuckled.

“i repeat: yer laughin’ ain’t ya?”

Their laughter was softer this time, but it sounded genuine.

“Okay, I think I’ve got one. So a horse walks into a bar. Bartender goes, ‘Hey, why the long face?’”

And just like that, Sans is laughing in earnest at the joke. Kid got him good, he’d give ‘em that – he’d not heard that one before.

“oh man, if anyone else down here knew what a horse was, that’d be one i’d use, for sure. damn, kid, that was good. wait, shit, how old are ya? fuck, i mean – stars, dammit, i keep – _fuck!_ ” Sans finally slapped his boney hand to his face. He just couldn’t stop swearing, could he? But a snort and a low chuckle from the kid had him pausing.

“Dude, if I’m not telling you what I look like, there’s no way I’m telling you my age. But it totally doesn’t bother me that you’re swearing. Like, I’ve heard a thousand times worse than what you’re saying.”

“wait, seriously? what’s the worst you’ve heard? just so i know how bad is safe ta get with ya.”

“…you’re assuming you and I will be talking in the future.”

Sans stopped himself. Fuck, they were right. He was really jumping the gun here, wasn’t he? Damn perceptive kid. But they were right. The way they said it though…under the matter-of-fact way they said it, there was an undercurrent of sadness. Had he accidentally stumbled into some sort of emotional territory? He really fucking hoped not. Emotions were not a thing down here. Like, check your emotions at the surface, thanks. But after a too-long hesitation, they sighed. (Even their sigh sounded kinda down, dammit.)

“It’s…um…I really don’t know if I should say it.”

Say wha – oh, the worst curse they’d heard! Right, that’s what they were talking about. At least whatever had them feeling so blue was something they didn’t want to talk about. Well, he figured it was a good thing, anyway. Not his problem this way.

“if it helps, i’m a full grown-ass adult. there’s probably nothin’ you can say that will surprise me, kiddo.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…” they muttered, but they took a breath and sighed, clearly steeling themselves for saying it. “Okay. It’s, um…well, it’s…okay, it’s more of an entire phrase. Um. ‘You steaming pile of bitchy cunt-cake topped with fucking shit cherries.’ Jesus freaking…I never thought I’d ever repeat that to anyone. Ever. As in, _in my entire life…”_

The kid was clearly thoroughly embarrassed by saying it, but seriously? Whoever had uttered that in front of this kid had clearly struck gold, because holy shit, that was the funniest and best fucking insult he’d ever heard! He was actually struck dumb just hearing it, especially hearing it coming from such a feminine and borderline-dainty voice. This topped anything he or Toriel had ever thrown at each other. Like, shit.

“holy fuckin’ shit, kid. that’s…” he finally started laughing, wheezing it out after a minute. “that’s a real doozy. shit, fuck, i don’t think i’ve heard anything like that before.”

“Shut up! I…just…you asked! _God_ I’m so _mortified._ I can’t believe I let you talk me into saying that out loud. Please never say that to anyone else. Like ever. Please. If I ever hear anyone else saying that, I will absolutely die of embarrassment.”

“pretty sure that’s not possible, kid. oh, man…that’s probably the best insult i’ve ever heard. damn, kid. good goin’.”

The kid struggled for coherent words for a minute, flustered while Sans continued to chuckle to himself. He’d have to remember that one. He was definitely sharing that with someone. Maybe Grillby. Or Undyne, if he could get away with it.

“I wasn’t trying to impress you! Argh! You asked, asswipe!”

“yeah, ya little shit burger? come at me.”

“I would, but there’s this incredible new thing right between us called a _heavy-ass stone door_ in my way.”

The kid probably meant it, but Sans was too busy laughing his non-existent ass off to care. Man, this one had sass and spunk, he’d give ‘em that! He was actually starting to like this new human.

“what? can’t open it?” he teased. But rather than a witty retort, he was met with silence. Then –

“Actually, I’m not sure. I haven’t tried. I just assumed it’s heavy because it looks like it’s made of the same stone as the rest of the Ruins. But for all I know, I actually _could_ open it.”

Holy shit, was the kid serious? Were they actually considering trying to open the door themselves?

“I’m not sure I should, though. I suddenly have this really bad feeling…I mean, I generally try to ignore it anymore when my instincts tell me something is a bad idea, but this time…nah, I think this big stone door is gonna stay closed, thanks. Just gonna nope outta that in the chilliest way possible…”

Sans snorted. Normally he’d tease the kid for chickening out, but he wasn’t so sure he was ready to meet the kid himself anyway. At least, not face to face. And what they said was finally registering. Why would they normally ignore their instincts when they clearly have a very keen intuition? A big fat red flag went up in his head, same as it did when they’d sounded so sad earlier. This kid…something was off. He wanted to like them, but…

“fair enough, kiddo. but hey, tell me somethin’. how’d ya get down here in the first place? there ain’t exactly a _hole_ lot of openings into the underground.”

There was a pause before the kid answered, sounding surprised.

“Was…did you make a pun? Was that a pun about there being holes in the mountainside people can fall into? And that’s how people get down here? Because that’s actually kind of creepy, considering I found a hole in the mountain and fell in it.”

“actually, yeah, it was. kinda had a feelin’, but i mean…of all places, what brought ya down here?”

“What brought me down here? Gravity, dumbass,” the kid snorted, amusing themselves. Oh-ho, a joke and an insult. This human was sure sharp. Frisk had only ever really either been murder-y or scared. Still, for their effort, Sans laughed a little.

“smartass brat.”

“How could I resist? You left yourself wide open. Kinda like the hole I fell in.”

And darker humor, too. Nice. Bonus points, actually.

“Too dark?” they sighed when he didn’t answer right away.

“hell no. that was perfect. but can ya be serious for all of five seconds? i really meant it. why the hell would ya come here? knowin’ there are places you could fall in. knowin’ it’d be dangerous. knowin’ you might not come back. what the hell possessed ya ta go pokin’ around on this fuckin’ mountain?”

After a long pause, Sans realized he had to have hit a nerve. After all, why would a kid be up on a mountain alone anyway, when there was a good chance they’d never come back?

“All the reasons you mentioned, actually,” they finally answered. The way they said it cut him to the bone. They sounded…just like he did on the runs where he decided falling down was better than facing the time loops again. The times were he just didn’t bother getting out of bed, no matter what Papyrus did, what _anyone_ did. They sounded so fucking miserable…and so unbelievably _tired._ This kid…had they really given up? Didn’t they have any Determination? Some reason to keep going? To drive them the way Frisk had? His mind just couldn’t wrap around that, the idea of a human – a kid, no less – not even trying to fight and just giving up. It bothered him, bothered his very Soul, to think about.

“why?” he found himself asking, not totally sure he even wanted an answer. After a long pause, though, there was a sigh, and the kid practically whispered back, “I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

That was both a relief, and a major annoyance. Now he really wanted to know what could have driven this kid to come here, even if it meant a major emotional trip. Then something occurred to him. Toriel. Shit, she could come back and find the kid like this any minute. Any second, really. What the hell had he been thinking, keeping them down here this long?

“okay, kid. i ain’t gonna force ya ta talk about it if ya ain’t ready. but remember how ya said you were worried about gettin’ caught by the lady? yeah, i just realized she could be back at any given second now. so ya might wanna go back ta chillin’ in that room she locked ya in. just so she doesn’t freak. but, hey…since she and i stay here and joke and insult each other and talk through the door, maybe…we could do that, too. just, maybe, sneak down ta see me. er, talk. whatever. maybe do it at night, so she doesn’t catch ya or somethin’. what’d you think?”

When there was no answer at first through the door, he thought maybe the kid had already run off, but finally, a soft and gentle answer came through the door.

“You’re assuming again. But if I _did_ stay…I think I’d like that.”

They still sounded kinda broken and hurting when they said it…but not quite so bad. Sans felt a little spark of…something…stir in his non-existent heart to notice the change in the kid’s voice. But when he checked a moment later to see if the kid was still there, he received no answer. Figuring they had taken his advice and run back to the bedroom Toriel had locked them in –

Just as he was thinking about that and brushing the snow off himself, it occurred to him. If Toriel had locked them in the room…how the hell had they gotten out to talk to him at the door in the first place?

For the next couple of days, it was like that. He and Toriel would go to the door as they usually would, exchanging jokes and insults, and he’d ask about the kid. Through the goat woman, he discovered the human was indeed female, like he’d suspected from her voice. What came as a surprise was that she was thirteen. She was certainly older then Frisk. (And, for some reason, hadn’t run into Flowey…which was good, in his opinion. The less even remotely demonic weeds, the better.)

Then, at night, he’d sneak back out to the door after Papyrus had gone to bed and wait for the girl to do the same. They’d talk and joke and insult each other, too…but there was something different about doing it with her than with Toriel. And she’d tell him different things about the surface, inadvertently revealing little things about herself, too. Like that she had a fascination with the stars, and knew a little about them from studying up on them when she’d actually still had the heart and motivation to do so. Or that she liked to draw, and still sometimes did, though it was getting rarer by the day that she would. Or even that she had issues with her parents, since she almost never talked about them. (That was certainly something he could understand.)

But then the peace, however tentative it had been, of those days was broken when Toriel came to the door as usual, sounding disheartened and shaken.

“you usually laugh at that one,” Sans supplied helpfully, immediately noticing the odd behavior. “what’s goin’ on?”

“It…it is the child. She…”

“she finally wanna go home?” he sighed, dreading the answer.

“No, no. Far from it. When I asked if she even wanted to see the surface again, she got this look in her eye and, in the most firm and sure tone I have ever heard her use, she replied, ‘No. I never want to go back there. At least…not alive.’ And this after the strange request she made to me…”

“strange request?” Sans asked, tucking away the disturbing thought of the human girl not wanting to return to the surface alive for later.

“She…asked me to…kill her. To end her life, take her Soul, and set monsters free. I have been teaching her all I am able in the short time she has been here, and upon finding out about us being trapped by the barrier, she grew so serious and thoughtful…I mean, she was already a rather serious child, but this was different. When I looked her in the eye and asked her if she was sure, when I begged her to change her mind, when I implored her to stay with me and never to think of such a thing again…she refused to budge. She continued to be resolute in her decision and continued to ask me to take her Soul and set us free.”

“what…did ya do?” Sans breathed, half terrified. The kid couldn’t be dead already – there hadn’t been a Reset! There was no way! Toriel wouldn’t have –

“I was not sure what to do. So I locked her in her room. But it is not a permanent solution to the problem, and I fear that she might try to escape. I fear for what she might do…mostly to herself. She confessed to me that not all of the scars she bears are from other people.”

Whoa, scars? The kid had _scars?_ How the hell had that never come up in conversation? Just what had this kid been through, exactly? But worse was the thought…

“she’s self-harmed?”

“A previous suicide attempt, she told me. She has not ever otherwise tried to harm herself. Though she has confessed to having wanted to before, but never having the follow-through to actually do it. I do not know, friend…for once, I do not know what to do. I cannot let her go, but I cannot make her stay. And I cannot protect her from herself, should she choose to take an alternate route out of this life. I fear she may try to leave on her own…and I will have no choice but to stop her. Friend…if she does end up coming through this door…will you please try to protect her? Try to help her see reason? And if she changes her mind, would you please look after her?”

Oh, shit. This was even worse than Toriel’s original challenge for him to protect any human who walks through the door for Frisk, because if this kid, this young girl, was really as broken as she sounded…how the hell was someone as equally broken going to fix her, when he didn’t know how to fix himself?

But he was already at least a little attached to the kid, he had to admit to himself. He kinda liked her spirit. Even if she was dead-set on dying, she still had some life left in her. She had some fire and grit and fight left that he liked, and dammit, he couldn’t believe he was going to do this, but…he knew he wasn’t doing it just for Toriel. He was doing it for himself, too…and just a little for the kid, if he was being honest.

“alright. can’t believe i’m sayin’ this, but alright, lady. i’ll do it. or, i’ll try. point is, i’ll…do what i can for her. if she comes through. just…be careful, lady.”

Toriel sighed softly, both in relief, and anticipation for facing her charge. Tension was thick in the air as they both left the door that night. But Sans, worrying and fretting and getting his anxiety all worked up over it, ended up going to the door again earlier than he usually would have, hoping he could just talk to the girl through the door and that be enough. He had a feeling – no, he just _knew_ – that it wasn’t going to work. But he was still going to try, dammit!

But as he approached the door, he saw that it was beginning to open. His magic ran cold, seeing this. Dammit, he knew never questioning the kid on how she could get out of the locked room was stupid of him! He quickly teleported to a spot he knew well, having hidden there every time Frisk came through the door and not being noticed. It felt like it took hours, but after only a few agonizing seconds, he saw the new human step out of the Ruins.

Sans’ brow bones raised in surprise. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this. This human looked nothing like Frisk. Long, silky hair, as black as night; pale skin that almost blended in with the snow around her; sharp, intelligent, yet dark eyes roaming over everything in sight (dammit, it was too dark and he was too far away to see the color); dark pink lips just letting air ghost between them, visible in the cold air…and it was hard to tell under the clothes, but she looked awfully thin for a human kid. Maybe Frisk had just been a bit chubby (it was so hard to tell on humans, dammit), but she seemed almost too thin. And lanky. She was kinda lanky, which really didn’t help.

The door banged shut behind her, and the girl whirled to face the loud sound, relaxing a second later. Even when she had decided to give up on life, her instincts were still sharp, it seemed. Then she put her hand on the door to the Ruins, not trying to open it, but rather…almost in reverence. Sans blipped to a closer hiding spot, hoping he could catch it if she said something.

And say something she did. But the words left Sans confused and far more chilled than the frigid air ever did.

“Toriel…I’m sorry I couldn’t say it to your face, but…thanks. Not just for trying, but…for caring, too. You’re the first one who has in a long time. Maybe you’re a bit off your rocker, but…I hope you never lose that kindness you have. It’s really gonna do someone a lot of good someday. Goodbye, Toriel.”

With that, she sighed and turned away, facing the way forward with a look Sans was very familiar with – Determination. He had wondered if she had any, but this settled it. She did indeed have some Determination left, but it was set on such a grim and morbid thing…but thinking on her words gave him pause.

At first, he worried she’d done something to Toriel. But he couldn’t see a speck of Dust on her from head to foot, and the way she spoke…she had evidently talked Toriel into letting her go peacefully, since the goat woman couldn’t bring herself to take the kid’s life. The girl’s voice, speaking to herself this time, brought him out of his thoughts.

“Wonder how it’s snowing down here…” she mused, and he noticed a small smile on her lips, the cold turning them even darker, along with adding some color to her cheeks. After a second of staring towards the cavern’s ceiling, though, she shrugged to herself and opened her mouth, sticking out her tongue to catch a snowflake. She giggled when one touched her tongue, and her smile grew, dark eyes shining with excitement and life. The next second, she began gathering up snow in a snowball, then rolled it around, trying to collect more.

…was she…after that really touching thing she said, the look in her eye…was she really just playing around in the fucking snow?! Well, she _was_ still a kid, he reasoned with himself, watching her place the first giant snowball, now that it was satisfactory. Yeah, a thirteen year old kid, making her a teenager. Barely. But just watching her continue to make snowballs and stacking them with such excitement and vigor, he could have face-palmed. This was a little ridiculous. Eventually, she seemed satisfied with the stack of three large snowballs, and began looking around for something. He had to duck down into his hiding spot when her eyes swept over him – he had no idea if she actually could see him or not, or if she could be as easily fooled as Frisk – but after a minute, he peeked back out and saw her approach the shrub he knew had one of Alphys’ cameras hiding in it.

The girl, however, didn’t even look for the camera. She was looking, it seemed, for suitable branches, as she snapped two relatively straight ones off the shrub and turned away, plucking the leaves off them. She then stuck them into the middle snowball in the stack, angling so that the more crooked one looked like it was waving. She then started looking around again, then patted herself down for something. Muttering so softly under her breath Sans couldn’t catch what she said, she then got down on her knees in the snow and started digging. What was she even…? When she cried out in triumph a moment later, she pulled a handful of small stones out from under the layers of snow and ice, getting back to her feet and jumping to stand in front of the stacked snowballs.

It wasn’t until the kid had pressed the stones into the top snowball to resemble a smiley face that Sans finally realized what she was doing. The girl was building a snowman. Again, he could have face-palmed, if he wasn’t sure it would’ve given him away. How the hell had he not figured it out until now…he shook his head at himself and continued to observe her, seeing her finish placing the stones and backing up from her creation. Simple, but it didn’t lack personality, that was for sure. Still, she tilted her head at it, humming in thought. Then she snapped her fingers in an _aha_ moment and took off her scarf, a dark purple thing with tassels at the ends. She then carefully tied it around the snowman’s neck, then stepped back again, her hum one of approval this time.

Mirth in her tone, she bowed low to the snowman, saying, “Well, hello to you, Mr. Snowman! A fine day, is it not?”

She laughed, but the slightly silly voice she used sounded a bit like Toriel…Sans had to wonder if that was intentional.

“Tis a shame I have not a hat to give you, for you would look very dapper indeed! But alas, I have no hat, so all I have to give is that scarf. Wear it with pride, Mr. Snowman – in ancient times, purple was used to signify royalty, after all. What’s that? Am _I_ a royal? Oh, goodness no! I’m no princess, good sir! These days, purple is just a nice, rich color to wear and nothing more. I just happen to look very good wearing purple.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong. The scarf had looked good on her, he’d say that much. But he was getting bored of watching the kid play around in the snow. He was starting to wonder if maybe he should just “accidentally” let himself be found…

“Oh? Well, I’m not wearing it because I’m giving it to you! No, no, don’t try to give it back – I won’t take it. I won’t be needing it, you see. Well, yes, I’m sure I will get cold. Not that I’ll notice. I happen to _like_ the cold and snow and ice. It’s my element! Hmm? Why won’t I need it? Well…let’s just say it won’t do me much good here soon,” she said softly, dropping her silly voice and speaking in earnest. Sans’ interest perked right up at this. She had been walking about and waving her hands dramatically as she’d talked before, but now she turned back to the snowman with a sad smile, the look in her eyes gentle, and entreating.

“Just do me a favor? Take care of that scarf for me, okay? It’s my favorite. Then why did I give it away? Because it’ll be more useful to you…or someone else, should they come here and need a scarf. But hold onto it for me until someone else needs it, okay? I’m sure someone will find a good home for it,” she added with a careful pat to the snowman’s side. She started to turn away, then stopped and turned back, as if the snowman had asked her something else.

“What am I going to do? Heh…don’t worry about it, Mr. Snowman. Whatever happens, it won’t be anything I didn’t want or bring on myself.”

Cryptic…and damned creepy. But she sounded so sure, it was almost hard to argue the point. But he shook off the thoughts as she shook her head at herself.

“God, what am I, five? Playing pretend with a snowman and getting sentimental over a stupid scarf…” she sighed, looking up again. “Still…not the worst thing I can do in a cave system supposedly filled with murderous magical beings, I suppose. Heh, one last moment of childhood innocence, I guess. Well, Mr. Snowman, I must be off. No, no, don’t cry for me. Save your tears, good sir. I shall only be meeting the fate I wished upon myself. Please, Mr. Snowman…see me off with a smile. There it is. Alright! I’m off! Goodbye, Mr. Snowman! Take care of the scarf for me!”

She declared this last bit proudly before marching away, each step sure and resolute. Sans blipped along the path, following her progress as she marched further from the snowman. For a moment after she left it, he debated on nabbing the scarf and bringing it with him, should he be successful in changing her mind. He’d seen in previous experience with Frisk that, no matter how much one likes the cold, it’s really not good for humans to get too cold. And with only that thin jacket to protect her now, he seriously doubted she’d stay warm enough not to get sick. Then again, if death really was her end goal, then she was doing a fine job of making sure she would get her wish, one way or another. This kid…was damned confusing. Welp, she was almost to the bridge, so there was his cue.

Sans teleported right onto the path and walked behind her until she got to the edge of the bridge. Rather than him having to stop her, she paused herself, looking up at the bars that were far too wide to stop anyone from walking right through. Controlling the urge to laugh from how easy this was going to be, he stepped up behind her, his skeletal grin wide.

“ **h u m a n . d o n ‘ t y o u k n o w h o w t o g r e e t t h e o n e w h o ‘ s g o i n g t o k i l l y o u ?** ” he said, making her freeze. Frisk had always, _always_ reacted the same way. Was predictability a human thing?

“ **t u r n a r o u n d a n d s h a k e m y h a n d .** ”

There was a brief hesitation where he watched her square her shoulders, then she turned around slowly, the courage and determination in her eyes almost stopping him with their intensity. Now that they were this close, he could make out the color of her eyes…they were dark green, like the forest, yet so piercing, he had to remind himself that there was no way she could actually see into his Soul. She was human. It just wasn’t possible.

Then he automatically stuck out his hand to her, and she took it. The look of surprise on her face the split second before she yelped and let go was great, and though he didn’t mean to, Sans started cracking up. Damn, that was always too easy! And Frisk had always fallen for it, no matter how many times they’d run through the same routine time and time again. Eventually, it hadn’t been that funny anymore, but tricking this new human…it really brought the joy back to the old gag.

“joy buzzer in the hand. never gets old,” he sighed, wiping a tear from his eye socket. It took a second, but she actually started laughing, too. This put a genuine grin on his face, watching her double over from laughter, crying and wheezing for air.

“Oh – oh god – that’s – whew!” she grinned once her near hysterical fit of giggles died down. “Oh man. No one’s gotten me like that in a _long_ time. God, that was great. Oh man. And a joy buzzer at that. Classic. Not to mention, right after that scary-voice thing you did, and saying you’d kill me…god, you had me going! Nice one, dude.”

Sans couldn’t stop the smile on his face if he wanted to. This kid was so easy for him to like, dammit! So unlike Frisk, all weak and timid and clinging to Flowey like a lifeline. This girl was totally different. She was clearly made of some tougher stuff, and he could appreciate that.

“thanks. glad ya enjoyed it. name’s sans, by the way. sans the skeleton.”

“June. June Skies. Wait, hold on,” she frowned, seeming to realize something. “Could you…say something else?”

“somethin’ else.”

“Smartass,” she snorted.

“brat,” he grinned right back. The look of amusement on June’s face instantly changed, the recognition drowning out anything else.

“You’re…the guy from behind the door!” she breathed, eyes wide and surprised, only now seeming to get a good look at him. He shrugged casually.

“and you’re the human who was stayin’ with the lady behind the door. gotta tell ya, kid, you were smart not ta tell me what ya looked like. i don’t think i coulda pictured ya if you’d tried ta describe yourself.”

“Um…thanks?” she replied, not sure how to take the pseudo-compliment. He shrugged again.

“listen, kiddo. here’s the deal. i’m a sentry here in snowdin forest. i’m supposed ta be on the lookout for humans like you. alive…or otherwise. but that means i’m supposed ta capture ya…or kill ya, if ya try ta resist. or just if i feel like it. and i don’t feel like fightin’ ya. but i can’t exactly pretend i didn’t see ya, either, ‘cuz it’ll be my head if anyone else sees ya. so. we have a problem.”

She blinked, absorbing the information without being fazed at all.

“Okay. So capture me.”

“no, kid…i don’t want ta capture ya, either.”

“Why not? Would it be easier for you if you killed me instead of capturing me?”

“well, probably, but –”

“Then I give you permission to kill me instead of capture me.”

“no, kid – dammit, you’re missin’ the point. i’m sayin’ i don’t wanna do either. i don’t wanna bother. i’m lazy like that.”

June frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

“If you’re too lazy to capture me and too lazy to kill me, but you’ll get in trouble if you let me go and someone else sees me…then that _is_ a problem. A personal one. For you, and not me. If you’re not gonna stop me, then I’m just gonna keep walkin’, ‘kay?”

Sans actually blinked in surprise himself, floored. Damn, the kid was sassy. He’d noticed it before – how could he not, when she was so damn sarcastic? – but still. When she turned away with a nonchalant wave over her shoulder, he shook his head to get back to reality.

“Was nice talkin’ to ya, skele-man.”

Just as Sans was about to stop her and try to convince her not to wander off and get herself killed, he spotted movement in the distance. Fuck, Papyrus! How had he known Sans had left?! And if he saw the girl, she was as good as dead! Thinking fast, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“Hey! What gives?” she cried indignantly.

“my bro’s comin’, and i can guarantee he’s gonna be pissed. but his beef’s with me, not you, so you need to hide.”

“Why?” June asked crossly.

“because he’s the captain of the royal guard, and if he sees ya, he’s either gonna kill ya, or capture ya. but he won’t hurt ya if he doesn’t know you’re here. so we need ta hide you, _now_."

June resisted as he pulled her across the bridge, then he glanced around. Usually, he told Frisk to hide behind the lamp near his station, but the oddly shaped lamp wouldn’t hide June even half as well. She was too tall, for starters, and her hair too long. And no amount of finagling would make her fit behind it, dammit. So where else…?

The girl yanked out of his grip and drew his attention to her finally, her hands on her hips and fire in her eyes.

“Man, you just don’t get it, do you? I mean, I know we haven’t really talked about it, but I thought I was being pretty obvious. If you really can’t get it through your thick skull, then fine, I’ll spell it out for you. _I want to die._ I _want_ someone to kill me. So I don’t care if your brother sees me and tries to kill me! That’s exactly what I want to happen! For crying out loud…and besides, I don’t see what the big deal is if he captures me, anyway.”

There it was again. She herself actually said it. She was trying to commit suicide, and was choosing to go out in a death-by-monster scenario. It had his magic running cold in his bones. He really hadn’t thought it possible for humans to feel that way. Yet, here was a human kid with a literal death wish. The universe’s way of flipping him off and saying, “You thought you knew what to expect? Guess again, fucker!”

“i…fuck, when the lady said…i couldn’t believe…i didn’t think…n-never mind. look. getting’ captured, yeah? it means you’ll be taken to king asgore for your Soul ta be harvested. yours would be the last human Soul we need to break the barrier and get the hell outta here.”

“I _know_ that. And isn’t that a _good_ thing? I mean, if I had to guess from context clues, having my Soul harvested by the king will kill me, thus granting my wish, _and_ it’d set you guys free. Win-win!”

Sans groaned and swore under his breath. Stars be damned, this was only making it worse! How the hell was he going to convince June she shouldn’t be trying to commit suicide if everything he said made it sound better to her?

“would you just go fucking hide already?!”

“Why?” she fired back, throwing her arms out in frustration equal to his own. “No matter what, as long as he sees me, I’m as good as dead!”

“exactly!”

“Oh, for…what, you tryin’ to save me or something? Because, news flash, buster – this damsel isn’t in distress! Quit tryin’ to save the girl that doesn’t want to be saved!”

Sans roared in frustration. There was just no getting through to her!

“SANS!!!!”

And just like that, he was terrified. Fuck. Out of time.

June smirked – little fucking shit! – and grabbed his hand, locking it around her upper arm. What the hell was she –

“Oh, darn it!” she cried dramatically as Papyrus approached, putting her other hand to her head and fluttering her eyes. “You caught me, _a human!_ You were just too strong for me! Oh, whatever will you do with me now?”

Papyrus stopped in his tracks, the rage burning in his eye-lights dissipating as he heard her words and tried to take stock of the situation. But why was she making it look like Sans had captured her? If it wouldn’t get him in trouble with his brother, he’d have let her go and demanded an explanation. Wait…was that maybe the point? Was she trying to make sure he didn’t get in trouble? That was…awfully kind of her. Even though it would get her killed and her Soul harvested. Oh, dammit, June was clever! She was killing three birds with one stone – getting him out of trouble, freeing monsters from the Underground, and getting the death she wanted. He’d made a promise compounded on Toriel’s original challenge to him, though, dammit, and June was throwing a wrench in the whole thing! How the hell was he going salvage this?

“SANS? IS…IS THAT A HUMAN? DID YOU ACTUALLY MANAGE TO CAPTURE A HUMAN?”

“uh…yeah, boss. but she didn’t fight very hard,” he added with a glare. Then and idea came to him, and he had to restrain a grin. “in fact, boss, she barely fought at all. wasn’t even tryin’ ta hit me. think somethin’ might be wrong with this one. may wanna keep her around for a while, just to check.”

June gave him a death glare, her piercing eyes flashing dangerously. But Papyrus just looked between Sans and the girl, more surprised that Sans had “captured” a human. With the information that June hadn’t fought back, he furrowed his brow bone and crossed his arms, confused.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE HUMAN DIDN’T FIGHT BACK? THEY ALWAYS FIGHT BACK! HUMAN SURVIVAL INSTINCTS ARE VERY STRONG MOTIVATORS.”

“not for this one, apparently.”

Oh, she looked like she was resisting the urge to slug him. But she stayed quiet and still, like a good little girl.

The tall skeleton rubbed his mandible as he thought, processing Sans’ suggestion.

“AND JUST WHAT WOULD WE DO IF WE KEPT THE DAMN THING? TAKE IT TO DR. ALPHYS FOR STUDY?”

“sure. ‘s one possibility. good thinkin’, boss.”

“SHUT UP, SANS.”

“yes, boss.”

Papyrus thought some more, then nodded to himself.

“ALRIGHT THEN. WE SHALL TAKE THE HUMAN TO THE ROYAL SCIENTIST IN THE MORNING. FOR NOW, WE CAN LOCK IT IN THE SHED. BUT DO NOT THINK CAPTURING A HUMAN GETS YOU OUT OF PUNISHMENT FOR SNEAKING OUT, SANS!!”

Sans’ shoulders slumped, and actually, so did June’s. Seemed she was just as disappointed that her ploy to get him out of trouble didn’t work.

“yes, boss. wouldn’t dream of it, boss,” he sighed. “c’mon then, ya brat. get movin’.”

Well, at least he had managed to save her for the night. Even so, though…what was he going to do about having to take her to Alphys tomorrow? Surely the reptilian monster would find some reason they shouldn’t take her to Asgore. If she really was as suicidal as she seemed, then there would surely be evidence of severe damage to her Soul. With a Soul on the brink of shattering, Papyrus wouldn’t want to take her to Asgore, since it would be presenting him with an inferior seventh Soul. But what after that?

…he’d worry about that later, when he wasn’t so damn tired from all the anxiety of the day and arguing in circles with June.

June pouted the whole way, but didn’t say much of anything. The occasional monster who was still out at this hour stared her down as Sans dragged her along, but if she just couldn’t feel their eyes on her, or she willfully ignored them was up for debate. And, though it was clear she didn’t like being escorted this way, she didn’t fight back – until she saw the inside of the shed.

“Oh, _hell_ no,” she said, wrinkling her nose at it.

“YOU DO NOT GET TO BE PICKY, HUMAN. AND YOU GET NO SAY. INTO THE CAGE, LIKE A GOOD LITTLE BRAT.”

“No. I’m not going in there.”

“EXCUSE ME?”

Sans began to sweat as she resisted, not budging an inch towards the cell at the back of the shed. Come on, kid – you got yourself into this mess, he thought. At least have the good grace to just put up with it until they could do better.

“I said, no. I don’t want to sleep on the concrete floor. Admittedly, the cold would probably kill me if I did, but –”

“WHAT? THE COLD WILL KILL YOU? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. IF THE COLD CAN KILL A HUMAN, WHY ARE YOU NOT ALREADY DEAD?!”

“Because it takes a really, really long time for the cold to kill someone. Under the right circumstances, anyway. Our bodies can take a lot of abuse, but every _body_ has a limit,” she added with a snicker at her pun. Papyrus’ eye socket twitched, and Sans had no trouble not laughing with his brother so worked up.

“OF COURSE _YOU_ WOULD CATCH A HUMAN THAT PUNS AS BADLY AS YOU DO,” the tall skeleton glared at Sans, who shrugged in response.

“Hey! Don’t knock puns! They’re… _punny,_ ” she giggled. Papyrus’ eye socket twitched more, and his fists clenched. Shit, Sans should have warned her of his brother’s hatred of puns. At this rate, she wouldn’t last til morning!

“STOP. _NOW,_ ” he glared at her, daring her to say another pun. Instead, she widened her stance to match his, planted her hands on her hips, and grinned at him. Oh, Sans didn’t like the look in her eye…

“Stop. _Now,_ ” she parroted back in an overly obnoxious impression of Papyrus. Stars, and that was actually funny! Even better than the puns, because it caught the tall skeleton off guard, the surprised look on his face making Sans slap a hand over his mouth in an effort not to laugh.

“WHAT – WHAT IS THIS?! YOU THINK THIS SOME SORT OF _GAME,_ HUMAN?!”

“What – what is this?! You think this some sort of _game,_ human?!”

Oh stars, shit, she was even mirroring his gestures and movements! It shouldn’t have been so funny that she was mocking Papyrus, but leave it to a kid to pull something like this! Sans snorted, trying desperately not to laugh. Her grin grew wider at the sound, though, and he knew he’d just encouraged her.

“CEASE THIS MOCKERY AT ONCE!!”

“Cease this mockery at once!!” June repeated back, mimicking his foot stomping perfectly, if with less force.

“I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, AND I WILL NOT STAND FOR SUCH BRAZEN DISRESPECT!! AND FROM A _HUMAN,_ NO LESS!!!”

“I am the Great and Terrible Papyrus, Captain of the Royal Guard, and I will not stand for such brazen disrespect!! And from a _human,_ no less!!!”

Damn, she had good short-term recall. Sans was doubled over, shaking and holding his breath from the effort not to laugh. Sometimes, though, a little snicker or snort would escape anyway, and it just seemed to goad the child on.

Finally, Papyrus screamed in frustration, and June repeated it, though she winced and had to clear her throat afterwards. Her voice evidently wasn’t made to go that high or be that loud. Fed up with her shenanigans, Papyrus stormed up to the human girl and made a grab for her – only to have her try to dart past him and Sans both, looking for escape. Sans, quick to recover from his bout of near hysterical not-laughing, grabbed her with his gravity magic before she could make it out the door, and tossed her into the cell. Papyrus slammed the cell door shut and locked it, then lead Sans out of the shed before putting the padlock on the door. June was shouting all the while, her voice barely audible with the door closed.

“ain’t that a bit much, boss? she _is_ just a kid…”

“SHUT UP!!!!” Papyrus screeched at him, causing him to flinch. The taller skeleton then marched back to the house, ordering Sans in after him. Well, now he was starting to feel bad. Poor kid, locked up like this…oh well. Brought it on herself for making fun of his brother. What was that human saying? Should have let sleeping dogs lie or some shit?

…not really the time to be thinking about it, though, as he trudged inside to receive his punishment for getting caught sneaking out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, apologies in advance if the depiction of both June and Sans' depression isn't very good or accurate, but I actually have very little experience with depression myself. Anxiety I have a bit of experience with, but depression? Not so much. I will still try, however, as it is a large factor in both of their characters.  
> Also, I will be updating this one on Sundays, for anyone wanting a posting schedule. And my profile here has a chart of my posting schedule, for anyone who wants to take a gander at it. Last but not least, if anyone has any questions or comments or concerns that they'd rather not voice here, I do have a personal Tumblr that I will answer to - it can be found [here](http://singingdreamwritesstuff.tumblr.com/). I will also be adding my Tumblr to the notes of the next chapters I update for all my other fics, and for those I post after this, it will be in the notes somewhere on the first chapter.  
> Anyway, it's been a long day, it's about midnight at the time of posting this, and I'm exhausted. And I have to get up early in the morning. So without further ado, I hope you all enjoyed this one and I'll see you next week for more.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Sans was awoken by Papyrus screaming something unholy in the living room. Tearing out of his room in a blind panic, his magic flaring to life protectively, he’s greeted by Papyrus looking terrified of…June, sitting on the couch. Wait, _what?_ When the hell had she gotten there? Not only had the girl been double locked in the shed, but the front door had been locked, too! What the actual fuck?!

“what the actual fuck, june?!”

The girl turned her head to look at Sans, totally unfazed.

“Morning to you too, grumpy bones.”

Papyrus was still too stunned to form anything coherent, so Sans forced his magic to calm the fuck down and try and figure this out. He _knew_ he should have asked how she got out of the locked room at Toriel’s, dammit.

“just…how did…the fuck? how did you even get in?! or out of the shed in the first place?”

“I know how to pick locks. How else would I have gotten out when Toriel locked me in my room?” she shrugged in reply, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Sans just stared at her. Picking locks explained the cell door and the front door. But…

“the door to the shed was padlocked from the _outside._ ”

“Yeah, about that…” she blushed the tiniest bit, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “I may or may not have kicked the door until it broke so I could get out. And I’d apologize, but…I told you I wasn’t staying in there. No means no, man.”

The tall skeleton finally seemed to collect himself and glared menacingly at the (in comparison) small human.

“FUCKING BRAT! I SHOULD KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND – ER, SIT – FOR SUCH ACTIONS AGAINST US!!”

Oh, fuck, no, Papyrus, don’t –

“Yeah, you should. Or, wait, hang on – wouldn’t want to ruin your couch. Okay, this might be better. There you go. Go ahead. End me if you think you should.”

The girl now stood a little away from the couch with her arms spread, as if waiting for him to strike. She was even smiling. That was so wrong on so many levels…

Papyrus froze and stared at her for a long moment, then turned to Sans.

“FUCK BREAKFAST. WE’RE TAKING THE HUMAN TO DR. ALPHYS _NOW._ ”

Yeah, that was probably a good idea.

Once the skeletons were ready (since June didn’t actually have anything she had to do to take care of herself), they departed immediately for the Riverperson’s boat to Hotland. It was faster than walking all the way there, and less risk of running the human child into anyone who might get too curious about her. (Right off the bat, however, she made it clear that she didn’t need to be held in order to agree that she was captured and would follow them. After having checked the damage to the shed she’d caused, they were fine with allowing her to walk unaided.) The girl herself didn’t seem to mind, as she was actually mesmerized by her first trip on the Riverperson’s boat. In fact, the Riverperson seemed to like her, as the ravenette whooped and hollered gleefully at the speed of the trip, and was even disappointed it was over. As they exited the boat, the Riverperson actually had something to say.

“Tra-la-la~ Hair of night, eyes of blue skies…are the needs of the many greater than the needs of the one, if the one will save the many? Come again! Tra-la-la~”

At that, the cloaked figure sped away in their boat, leaving the three very confused individuals on the shore.

“What…was that about?” June asked the skeletal brothers. “And what did they mean?”

“NO FUCKING IDEA.”

“you can never tell with the riverperson. they like bein’ weird and cryptic like that.”

June made a small noise of understanding, despite still looking confused.

“O…kay then. Let’s maybe just…get to this ‘Dr. Alphys’, yeah?”

The skeletons nodded, ushering her up to the lab in a hurry.

As they entered, the entire lab was dark except an upper floor, which had a light emanating from it. Typical Alphys, probably watching anime in the dark or something. Then, booming from all around, as if she stood on all sides with a megaphone, Alphys herself declared, “Fuck off!”

June jumped slightly, but she didn’t seem afraid. Just startled by the loud noise. Typical humans, startled by something that can’t hurt them. Sans shouted back, “not until you get yer scaly ass down here and help us, ya shithead!”

“Sans? You shit-eating bastard, is that you?”

“why don’t ya turn on the lights, get off yer fat ‘n lazy rump, ‘n come find out, motherfucker?”

“ _I’m_ lazy? That’s rich, coming from a fat fucking slob like you!”

Sans laughed as she finally did turn on the lights, something close to a genuine smile gracing his features. He stepped forward and greeted her with an amicable handshake as the reptilian monster approached.

“’n that’s comin’ from an otaku who watches ‘n eats trash. good ta see ya, alph. glad ta see you can still hold yer own.”

“Same to you, Sans. So, I assume you need my help, and it has something to do with this human.”

“ever to the point, ain’t ya? yeah, we need yer help with this one. she’s…not right.”

“Not right? What the fuck does that even mean?”

Rather than Sans try to explain, he turned to June.

“hey, kid. why’d ya come down here?”

“I told you. I threw myself into the mountain to kill myself.”

“and do you still want to?”

“Yes. Like I haven’t told you that several times already.”

Sans and Papyrus both gave the scientist deadpan expressions and gestured to the girl, as if to say, “See?” Alphys shot them both confused looks.

“I…don’t really see the problem? Isn’t this a good thing?”

“ _Thank you!_ ” June cried to the heavens. “ _You_ understand!”

Alphys giggled, looking rather bemused. Sans sighed and pinched the bone between his eyes.

“ _no,_ she _doesn’t._ ‘cause you ain’t even fightin’ back.” 

“Wait, what? She’s not? Not even a little?”

“NO!! AND SHE CLEARLY HAS THE CAPABILITY TO FIGHT VALIANTLY FOR HER LIFE!! AS EVIDENCED BY THE FACT THAT SHE BROKE OUT OF OUR SHED!!”

Alphys looked to Sans for clarification.

“the shed has a locking cell door on the inside, a padlock on the outside. she picked the lock to the cell door, then broke down the shed door, since it was padlocked on the outside. after that, she picked the lock to our front door and let herself in to sleep on the couch.”

From the look on the reptile’s face, she was impressed. Frankly, so was he.

“Too bad we can’t keep this one. I kinda like her.”

June grinned at Alphys, earning her a shy little smile back. Papyrus just looked offended.

“HOW CAN YOU _LIKE_ THE HUMAN?!?!”

“What’s the matter, skele-man?” June teased him, a twinkle in her eye. “Is the big bad monster a teeny tiny bit jealous?”

Alphys openly snickered at June’s tease, making it grow to shit-eating proportions. Sans wanted to laugh, because it was kinda funny, but this was so not the time. Not if he valued his life.

“’n this is what lead to her gettin’ locked in the shed in the first place.”

“And now you know better than to try to make me do anything I don’t want to,” the ravenette replied sweetly. It was creepy. Alphys laughed harder, while the skeletons scooted a little away from the child.

“look, can we just get her examined and get this over with?” Sans sighed when Alphys finally calmed down some. She nodded, waving them over to the elevator to the lower lab. June followed the scientist without complaint with the skeletons right behind her. After a short elevator ride, the doors opened to reveal the rest of the lab, much more dimly lit. As soon as they all stepped out of the elevator, June stopped, almost preventing Sans and Papyrus from getting off.

“somethin’ on yer mind, kid?” Sans asked, leaning around to see her face. The girl’s gaze was emotionless and distant, but she suddenly shivered, eyeing her new surroundings with a sharp and wary look.

“Is there anyone else down here?” she asked Alphys, turning around in circles so she could examine everything. Sans felt slightly miffed she ignored him, but let the reptile answer instead, already knowing the answer.

“Uh…y-yeah. There are some, uh, o-others in some other rooms. J-just ignore them, though. Th-they won’t bother you a-as long as you’re with me. Come on, quickly.”

Alphys hurriedly ushered them along the hallway, Sans being surprised the girl even noticed the presence of the amalgamates.

“how’d ya know there was anybody else here?”

“Dunno. Just…felt like someone was watching me. Just kinda knew. Like human instinct.”

“huh…” Well, that explained a few things. Like how sometimes, Frisk would just know where he was, even without knowing he was there. Did that mean June actually knew he’d been at the door when he’d found her, and she’d just put on that little show with the snowman to fuck with him? Because if so, it definitely worked.

…should he ask? Would that be weird? It’d probably be weird. But he really wanted to know, dammit. But he probably shouldn’t ask.

“so, how does that work, exactly? do ya notice everythin’, like, constantly, like when yer playin’ in the snow, buildin’ a snowman, or is it selective, like just now?”

“I’m not sure. I think it’s selective, but not by choice? If I – wait…”

She suddenly stopped – not just talking, but walking, too – and stared at him. Hard. With those piercing green eyes narrowed in suspicion, making her gaze all the sharper. Despite the fact that he knew he was sweating under her gaze, he didn’t squirm. Thank the stars for all the practice with Papyrus.

“Were you…watching me when I left the Ruins?”

Fuck! He knew he shouldn’t have asked!

“what would give ya that idea, kid?”

“Playing in the snow? Building a snowman?”

“those were just examples, kid.”

“Except, not really. Because when I left the Ruins, I was surprised by the snow, and I wanted to play around in it. And I built a snowman. And only someone who’d been there would even think to mention something like that.”

…fuck, she was sharp. Fuck. Stars be damned, he was fucked. He sweat more under her accusing look, and he refused to meet her eyes. What the hell was he even supposed to say to that?

“Do you just, like, have a thing for watching little girls alone in the forest? ‘Cause that’s really creepy.”

Stars, what the fuck?! While he definitely didn’t “have a thing” for watching her play around in the snow, he still felt his cheekbones flush at the accusation. Dammit, June, just shut the hell up and forget about it already!

“i-i don’t – i wasn’t – _what the fuck?_ ” he hissed, hating that she’d gotten him so flustered. And they were all staring at him. Dammit, this wasn’t helping.

“THE HUMAN CHILD HAS A POINT. HOW _DID_ YOU KNOW IT WOULD BE THERE FOR YOU TO CAPTURE, SANS?”

Oh shit stars fucking dammit. He couldn’t answer that without getting in serious trouble. But he wasn’t seeing a way out. Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck!_

Suddenly June sucked in a breath and looked around, her caution and wariness returning as she scooted closer to Sans.

“Never mind that. Let’s just get where we’re going and get this over with.”

Alphys seemed to agree as she again beckoned them to follow her. June stayed closer to Sans than was really necessary, but since she evidently thought he was safer than whatever lurked where she couldn’t see, he let her stay close. Still, as kinda fun as it was to see her be really creeped out, he figured it was probably better to distract her. The amalgamates wouldn’t take kindly to her instinctual knowledge of their presence.

“so, kid. ya didn’t end up answerin’ me. ‘bout the whole thing of if ya just constantly know, or if it’s selective.”

“Oh. Uh. Well, like I said, I don’t really know for sure, but I think it’s kind of selective? But also kind of constant? I mean, it’s just a subconscious thing. You subconsciously keep aware of your surroundings, and when something shifts, or something’s off, you just…know. It only really seems to kick in when there’s danger around, though. So it’s kinda both. I think. I don’t know, man,” she finally sighed with a shrug, relaxing enough that she let her arms hang at her sides instead of having them wrapped protectively around her thin form.

So the hyper-awareness was triggered by sensing danger in the environment, which humans subconsciously monitored for such things. He could see what she meant about it being both constant and selective. Alphys voiced his thoughts as they finally reached the room. (Took long enough, damn!)

“Humans sure are fascinating. I’d love to pick your brain…both figuratively and literally.”

June snorted a laugh as the door slid open, answering before she got a good look at the room beyond, as Alphys was walked ahead of her, and she was focused on Alphys.

“Tell ya what. If there’s not too much damage to it when I die, you can have my brain. I sure as hell won’t need it. Or be using it, for that… _matter._ ”

Sans grinned over her choice of words, while Alphys and Papyrus both just narrowed their eyes at her.

“WAS THAT A PUN?”

The ravenette gave Papyrus a lazy, smug smirk.

“Maybe,” she answered, stretching out the word and shooting an exaggerated wink at Sans. He snorted, trying not to laugh. Damn, man, a kid after his own heart. If he had one. (He reminded himself of just moments ago, when she was a little shit, to sober up. It worked pretty well, actually. Reminded him that he shouldn’t actually be getting attached to her, even if he did promise Toriel to try and help her.)

Papyrus groaned, and Alphys sighed with a roll of her eyes.

“By the stars, Sans. How long have you been around her for your humor to taint her?”

“oi!” he laughed, playing mock offended. “i only really met ‘er last night. ‘n fer yer information, she had the sense of humor when i found ‘er.”

He expected June to have a witty comment to add, but when she was silent beside him, he glanced over at her, suddenly noticing the tension rolling off her in waves. Hoo damn. If he hadn’t been able to sense it, the sense of something wrong would have been easy to read in her body language – she practically screamed that something was very, very wrong. He felt his own anxiety build a little in apprehension. What was it? What the hell was wrong with her? What had suddenly set her off? She wasn’t going berserk or anything, but it felt like a delicate situation that could easily devolve quickly if they weren’t careful. Especially as she was human (though that was debatable from the damage to their shed), and they had no real idea what she was capable of.

By the time he thought to do something, both Alphys and Papyrus had noticed that something was up with her, too, and they both hesitated, like they didn’t know what to do, either. And really, he was sure they didn’t. So he took a breath and leaned over a little, hoping to get a glimpse of her face as he spoke.

“kid? you okay?”

She was shaking – not violently so, but enough that it was obvious to all three monsters – and Sans now saw that she had her eyes screwed tightly shut. She was paler than before, he was sure of that, and her fists were clenched so hard, her knuckles were white. He was actually beginning to worry she’d hurt herself from how hard she had her fists clenched. Her jaw was also clamped tight, and she was acting as if she hadn’t heard him. He took another deep breath to calm his own nerves about this before gingerly putting a hand on her arm for attention.

“kid?”

It seemed the physical contact was what actually did it, rather this his voice, but it didn’t matter, because the second he touched her, she yelped as if he’d hurt her and violently flinched away from him, swinging her arms in his general direction to defend herself. It was easy to dodge the blind swings, but her reaction surprised him more than the defensive move did. The fuck? Anxiety with that level of reaction was his thing. What the hell could trigger something like this in a kid as confident as June?

The dark haired girl backed away from all of them without trying to escape the room, but her gaze and breathing made it seem more like they’d trapped a frightened animal than a human girl. Oh, damn – that wasn’t just anxiety over something. That was straight up fear and panic. He needed to calm her the fuck down, _now._

“easy, june,” he said as soothingly as he could, making a placating hand gesture as he stepped closer slowly. “it’s just me. your old buddy, sans. you remember me?”

Her dark green eyes, currently looking like a forest caught in a windstorm, trained on him at his words and gestures. She took a moment to register what he said, but the wild look dimmed slightly.

“Sans?” she murmured, a half croaked tone of fear. The sound tore at his Soul, but he nodded with a gentle smile he hoped was reassuring.

“yeah. whatever yer seein’ june, it ain’t real. so focus on me, ‘kay, june? just keep those pretty little eyes on me. i’m real. everything else isn’t, june.”

June whined a little, closing her eyes, but the tears he’d seen forming slipped out anyway, and a couple big ones rolled down her cheeks. Damn, he was way too attached to this kid already if it hurt this much to see her suffering.

After a minute of him gently trying to reassure her that whatever she’d seen wasn’t real and that she was safe, she didn’t seem much calmer. She did, however, manage to collect herself somehow, and when she opened her eyes and began forcefully wiping her tears away, he hesitated over the look in her eyes. Determination. She had mustered enough Determination to force herself not to panic anymore. She was still badly freaked out and in need of comfort he didn’t really know how to give, but she was determined to see this through.

Taking a steadying (albeit shaky) breath, she moved past him with a purpose, hoping up on the examination table and looking down at Alphys expectantly.

“Let’s just get this over with so I can get the hell out of here.”

Ouch. Her voice was still rough around the edges, but she didn’t seem to care, too focused on her still slightly trembling form and trying to anticipate what Alphys would do.

Then the yellow woman approached the girl with a small needle and a vial. The sight of those two things made her shake like a fucking leaf caught in a windstorm. She knew what was up, evidently.

“I’m going to draw some blood to study, alright? Monsters don’t have blood like humans do, and usually the humans die before they reach me, so I’ve never gotten the chance to study it. I’m only taking a little for now, though. Hopefully it won’t be that much different than drawing magic from a monster…”

June tensed, and Sans could swear he saw her Determination waver as her lower lip trembled. Oh stars, please for the love of all things, don’t start crying again. He wasn’t sure he could handle it if she started crying again. Then she closed her eyes tight and took a few breaths to calm herself before (slowly) taking off her jacket and extending her arm towards the reptilian monster. Alphys just stared before setting down the items in surprise.

“That’s…a lot of scars…” she murmured in awe, and frankly, Sans was staring in shock, too. June had a multitude of white scars running all over her newly exposed skin, all with varying levels of age, size, length, and depth. There were even some that disappeared under her clothes, leading to the conclusion that there were more they couldn’t see. Fuck, she looked like she’d been through a fucking war zone. What the hell had she seen and survived in order to get those beauties?

“H-HUMAN,” Papyrus stated, blushing a little at the sight of all those glorious scars, “YOU NEVER MENTIONED THAT YOU WERE A WARRIOR!!”

“What?” she replied, clearly confused. 

“ONLY AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL AND TALENTED WARRIOR COULD BEAR SUCH MARKS UPON THEIR PERSON, FOR THEY ARE PROOF OF YOUR ABILITY TO FIGHT AND SURVIVE, NO MATTER WHAT! I AM MERELY SHOCKED THAT YOU ARE CLEARLY SUCH A CAPABLE WARRIOR, YET WISH TO MEET YOUR DEMISE WITHOUT A FIGHT!!”

June blinked hard twice, her shaking easing in her confusion.

“That’s…that’s not right. That’s not true. I’m…I mean, I get in a lot of fights, sure, but I’m not a warrior. I just defend myself. And you can get scars from things other than fighting, ya know.”

Now it was the monsters’ turns to blink in surprise and confusion. Yeah, they all knew that last part was true, but…was she trying to say she got some of those from other sources? He suddenly remembered Toriel saying that June had scars, and that she had a few that were from a previous suicide attempt. The rest weren’t self-harm, so that was ruled out as to how she got them…so how…?

“We know that,” Alphys piped up, scooting a little closer and examining the marks crisscrossing the girl’s arm. “But down here, we usually get scars from fighting. Other means are pretty rare occurrences. But you’re saying these aren’t all from fights?”

June hesitated, then looked away, her voice coming out low and full of hurt.

“Maybe I am. But I sure as hell don’t wanna talk about it. What’s it to all of you, anyway?”

The words almost felt like a strike to his Soul. With just those few words, June confirmed a bit of what Sans already knew: someone had hurt her, and it had been deep. And now she believed no one cared about her, or that anyone could. But hadn’t Toriel already proven her wrong? People could still care about her, dammit, and at least one someone already did. (It might even be two someones, a little voice in the back of his mind teased him, and he promptly told that little motherfucker to shut the fuck up and mind its own damn business.)

There’s a long beat of silence among them, then Alphys waddled over to grab something else, the needle and vial evidently abandoned.

“Forget drawing your blood. As long as you’re still somewhere in the Underground, I can track you down another time for it. I’m moving on to the actually important stuff. Put simply,” Alphys said, gesturing to the device in her hand as she waddled back over, “this little gadget will tell us your Stats by stimulating your…er, well, it works on monsters by stimulating their magic. For a human, it’d have to stimulate the Soul itself, I guess. Either way, you’re going to feel a pinch coming from the core of your being. That’s it doing its job. Once it’s done, I read over what it tells us about your Stats and shit. Think you can handle that?”

June nodded, not looking nearly as bad as she did just seconds ago. The short skeleton had to wonder if she maybe had a thing against needles or syringes and the like. Then again, Alphys hadn’t even brought out the damn needle yet when the kid first flipped shit, so maybe that wasn’t totally the problem here…

“hey, june.”

“Yeah?”

“ya got a thing against needles?”

She flinched a little, causing the device to slip as Alphys was positioning it on her arm, and the reptile shot him a withering look.

“Yeah, actually. I…just brings up bad memories. This whole room does.”

“was that what freaked ya out so bad?”

He didn’t mean for the words to come out sounding so gentle and caring, but they did, and June stared at him with a mix of surprise and…something else. Before he could identify it, she glanced away again, her expression dark.

“…yeah,” she finally answered quietly.

“they got somethin’ ta do with yer scars?”

There was an even longer pause before she gave him another affirmative, this time even softer than the first. If Alphys wasn’t so busy hooking up the device to her arm, he had a feeling June would’ve curled up on herself. She was looking a lot less scared and a lot more miserable now. But she was still uneasy, the restlessness and impatience to have this over with still bothering her. Whatever the memories were, she’d already said she didn’t wanna talk about it. And Sans wasn’t gonna make her. Forcing the information out of her wouldn’t do any good, he knew that much.

So Sans just nodded, intending to let it go for now. With that little bit, though…he hoped June would get the hint that if she wanted to talk about it, he would listen.

Then the ravenette flinched and put a hand over her chest, glancing down at the device on her arm as the screen flashed. Alphys must have finished with it when they weren’t paying attention and started it up.

“There we go. Now we wait for it to beep that it’s done.”

June huffed at it, and Sans knew she was probably a little irritated with the device for the pinching feeling it produced when it stimulated her Soul for something to measure. Suddenly, he found himself wondering about the color. Would it be red for Determination, like Frisk’s had been? It didn’t seem likely, but there were other colors. But he had no idea where she would fit. Her behavior was too odd to really put into any of the Soul colors he knew. Well, he knew the next step after June’s Stats would be her Soul, so he’d just have to wait and see.

He was brought out of his thoughts with the beeping of the small machine, Alphys shuffling over to remove it and read the results.

“HP…seventeen out of one-seventy-five, by the stars…” Alphys breathed, shocked, before making herself move on. “AT twenty, DF ten…”

The reptile paused, staring at the screen before glancing over at June, then to the boys.

“Okay, help me wrap my head around this. She has no EXP. Literally zero. But her LV is _two?_ ”

Sans and Papyrus both blurted an incredulous “what” at the last bit, with Alphys practically throwing the device into the air as she threw her hands up.

“I know! Like, what even is this?!” the yellow monster started, and the brothers could tell she was about to launch into a rant. “I mean, all the _other_ human Souls I’ve measured follow the same pattern for LV and Stat gains! So _what the hell?!_ Just-just-just look!”

She raced over to her computer and typed furiously, pulling up a chart of the different Stats for the other six human Souls they had and their correlation for Stat growth through the LVs. It was a little complicated looking, but she gestured to it wildly as she continued to shout.

“See, the _orange_ Soul – the one with the _highest kill count_ of _any_ human to _ever_ hit the Underground – had an LV of six with two-hundred EXP, AT twenty, DF eleven, and HP forty! The _blue_ Soul had an LV of two with ten EXP, AT twelve, DF ten, and HP twenty-four! And the only one who had the same EXP as she does is the _green_ Soul, with an LV of one, AT ten, DF ten, HP twenty! _But she doesn’t have any of those Stats!_ She doesn’t match up with any of them! Her AT and DF are close to that of an LV _six_ human, even though her LV is _two!_ And her base HP is the highest I’ve ever seen out of _any_ human, _ever!_ Do _you_ see where she’s supposed to fit on this chart? _Because I sure as hell don’t!_ ”

After a long pause of Alphys just catching her breath from her angry and confused rant, Sans piped up with, “ya done yet?”

“Maybe!” she screamed at him, still frustrated, but having nothing else really to say about the actual thing frustrating her. “I don’t know!”

June – poor June, since it was her Stats making the scientist freak out so badly – was leaning as far back away from Alphys as she could without laying down on the examination table, wide-eyed and a little frightened. She wasn’t shaking, but this was something highly unexpected. Then again, so was she.

“you really know how ta break the mold, don’t ya, kiddo?”

“Uh…”

Sans chuckled at the girl’s utter confusion and Alphys’ outburst. Once the yellow reptile finally calmed down, she blushed (probably embarrassed by her yelling rant about human Stats) and looked away from them all, muttering, “Yeah, I’m good now. Anyway…June, right? To say your Stats are unusual doesn’t even begin to cover it. Any ideas as to why your Stats gave a big fat ‘fuck you’ to every other bit of data I’ve gathered on humans?”

“Uh, honestly? I’ve really got no idea. All this is totally new to me.”

“Wait, what? Really? Even how low your current HP is compared to your base HP?”

“Yeah. Humans don’t…we don’t know each other’s Stats. We actually have no idea how to even check them. Humanity as a whole has no idea they even exist – and the same goes for you guys. Like, seriously, if I had known you guys lived under Mt. Ebbot, I would’ve found another way to try and off myself that didn’t land me right into the arms of someone who was going to save me.”

Sans knew she meant Toriel and tried not to cringe. He figured that she’d be grateful for that someday…just not right now.

“Huh…and the boys…didn’t rough you up or anything, did they? You’re not injured in any way?”

“No. They haven’t laid a finger – er, phalange – on me. As much as I wish they had at this point…” she sighed, shooting both skeletons a half-hearted glare. Sans was more surprised she actually knew the name of the bones of the finger.

“Wow…King Asgore will definitely need to know about this. But first, two things. One, because you’re weird, I want to study you. Alive. So you’re staying with me from now on.”

Oh hell no.

“actually, alph, she’ll be stayin’ with us. after all, she is a human in the underground. it’s the job of the royal guard ta catch humans. ‘n since we’ve already captured her…she stays with us.”

Alphys glared at Sans, but they both knew he was right. With their current system, there was nothing she could say or do to get them to allow her to keep June. So finally, she looked away, silently conceiting.

“Fine. Then when we’re done here, I’ll pack some things and join you.”

…what?

“Anyway, the second thing is that there’s still one more thing I have to do with you before I can say we’re done here,” she continued, looking at June. “I’ll need to check the condition of your Soul.”

June hesitated, frowning, but gave a nod that this was acceptable. Sans and Papyrus were still hung up on the whole, “I’m going to temporarily live with you while I study the human without your permission” thing.

“now hold up, there, alph,” Sans started, sweating a little. “ya can’t just invite yourself ta live with us until yer done studyin’ her. yer basically forcin’ the captain of the royal guard ta let you live with ‘im – and me. not ta mention, we don’t have room fer both you and the brat, _and_ we live in snowdin. ya know, where it’s cold as shit all the fuckin’ time? ‘n yer core body temperature would get too low ‘n you’d probably die if ya stayed too long?”

Alphys paused, evidently not having thought of that. But just when he thought they might’ve dodged a bullet, the reptile turned to Papyrus.

“Captain Papyrus. As the Royal Scientist, I request permission for lodging at your home until I am done studying the human. Unless it would be more acceptable for you to return her to me every day until I’m done?”

Papyrus, to Sans’ dismay, actually began to consider it.

“AND HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE YOU TO STUDY IT?”

“Don’t know. Could take days. Weeks. Who knows?”

Papyrus frowned, and Sans just knew he’d lost.

“AND THE CONCERN ABOUT YOUR BODY TEMPERATURE GETTING TOO LOW? WHAT OF THAT?”

“I wouldn’t go outside, and I’d bring plenty of heating blankets and heating elements and shit. I can take care of myself in the cold.”

Papyrus gave a long-suffering sigh…then agreed. Alphys shot Sans a smug look before returning to her task of examining June. She easily made a small screen pop out from the wall and swiveled it in front of June, making the girl glance down at it in surprise.

“An x-ray machine?” she asked incredulously, and all three monsters gave her perplexed looks.

“Uh, no. What the hell is an x-ray machine?” Alphys replied. “Never mind. This is a machine that lets us observe your Soul without having to draw it out.”

“So basically, an x-ray machine for Souls.”

“Again, what the hell is an x-ray machine?”

“Doctors use it to see our bones. To make sure none of them are broken.”

She definitely had their attention now.

“wait, what? how the hell do you…yer not even a skeleton!”

“Uh, no? But we have one? A skeleton, I mean. Did you guys really not know that?”

They all shook their heads. June just grinned and snorted. Evidently, she found it funny that she had to explain this.

“Okay, so like, all humans have a skeleton inside us. All our muscles and tissues and organs and meat and fleshy stuff? It all goes around our skeletons. They’re, like, our foundation. Ya know, if we were a house or something. Oh, and a human skeleton isn’t sentient like you guys, so if you saw one, that person is totally deadsville. And if you took our skeletons out of our bodies, we’d either have to already be dead, or we’d die like right away. And our bones look different than yours do. They’re…thinner, I think? And from what I can tell, a lot more fragile. So, since we can’t see our skeletons when something happens and they need to be fixed, we have to use an x-ray machine to see the damage to the bone. But yeah, under all this skin and junk? I’m a skeleton, just like you guys.”

June concluded her impromptu lesson on human anatomy with a smile. When she glanced around at their faces, she burst out laughing…partially from Alphys’ enthusiastic “I’m enraptured by what you’re saying” note-taking face, and partially from Sans and Papyrus’ blushing and embarrassed faces.

Well. This was certainly not something Sans had ever learned from Frisk. And this was definitely a topic he did _not_ want to stay on with a thirteen year old kid.

“W-WELL THEN! I…HAD NO IDEA HUMANS WERE SO CLOSE TO SKELETON MONSTERS! BUT!! THAT DOESN’T CHANGE ANYTHING!!!”

June just snorted, trying to hold back another laugh at their expense.

“From your faces, I’m calling BS,” she managed past her own laughter, Alphys joining her once the reptile got a good look at their faces. Damn traitor.

“can we just get a look at her damn Soul and get this fucking over with?!” Sans seethed, trying to get them back on track. But with all the laughter, it seemed June had forgotten her fear and whatever bad memories she had, leaving her relaxed and back to her usual self. It was…kinda nice to see her back to normal. Whatever her version of normal was.

Alphys slid the screen for the Soul viewer back into place in front of June with one last chuckle, matching June’s smile as she pushed up her glasses.

“Just hold still, alright? This one won’t hurt.”

June nodded, straightening her posture and then holding absolutely still. It was weird to see. Her eyes were open, and she was obviously still breathing, but not a single muscle so much as twitched where she sat. Kinda creepy, if anyone asked Sans.

Then Alphys turned on the Soul viewer. Once it flickered to life, she turned on a bigger monitor on the wall for them to look at and study the girl’s Soul. And when the picture came into focus –

Sans felt as if someone had punched him in his non-existent gut and made his magic run cold. June’s Soul…it was extremely, extremely dim. So dim, the only times they had seen it before was right before a monster fell down. And it looked pretty badly mangled, with deep cuts and scratches all over the surface. The worst part was the crack, wide and jagged, that nearly had her Soul splitting in two. It was one, _maybe_ two good hits away from shattering entirely. And none of that even took the color into account. Because of the dimness, it was difficult to make out, but there, swirling lazily between the two barely connected halves of her Soul…one side was a dull orange, while the other was a deep and dark blue.

In short? June’s Soul was like nothing literally any of them had ever seen.

“welp. this…explains a lot.”

“INDEED,” Papyrus agreed in the quietest voice Sans had ever heard him use outside their own house. “THIS…THE HUMAN’S SOUL…IT IS FAR TOO DAMAGED AND DIM FOR THE KING TO USE. IT WOULD NOT BE STRONG ENOUGH TO USE ON THE BARRIER.”

“ _What?_ ” June cried, indignant as she suddenly seemed to spring back to life. “No! You’re – you’re lying!”

“except he ain’t. kid, your Soul…if asgore tried ta use it on the barrier, it’d probably break before he got any use out of it.”

“It…they can…break? Is that’s what’s happening to mine? It’s slowly breaking?”

“looks that way.”

The heartbroken look on June’s face hurt to see. She must have really had her heart set on helping free the monsters, as long as they could use her Soul. But with news like that…damn. Oh, _dammit,_ they shouldn’t have said anything, he realized when her Soul grew even dimmer. It was only a little, but to a Soul on the verge of either shattering or falling down, it made a difference. Panic fluttered in his ribcage. They had to think of something to cheer her up again! She was so close to getting snuffed out…

Sans hadn’t noticed, but June had begun shaking again, and he continued not to notice until a sob broke the silence in the room, and June pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Dammit, now she was crying! What the hell were they going to do?!

“Hey, hold on! That’s not necessarily true!” Alphys burst, her expression just as concerned as Sans. “I mean about Asgore not getting any use out of your Soul. I mean, we’ve never seen a Soul with two colors before. It’s totally unheard of! And with your Stats the way they are, it in a way makes sense that your Soul would be different. It could be stronger than we realize. And if we can heal some of that damage to it, and bring up the brightness some, it’ll be of even more use to him!”

June hiccupped and tried to focus on Alphys, though the tears just kept coming.

“R-really? We can f-fix it?”

“Yeah! It probably won’t ever be good as new, but with enough work, it can get pretty close!” the scientist replied, giving the human teen a genuine smile and putting her hand encouragingly on June’s knee. June did her best to smile back, trying to dry her tears as a new hope filled her green eyes. And, much to their relief, her Soul brightened again. It was just a little, and not quite even back to the brightness it was when they started, but it was an improvement. She wouldn’t fall down or have her Soul shatter just yet.

“So, you ready to get back up to the main lab? If you’ve been stuck with a bunch of boys, I bet you could use a little girl time. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. You like anime, right?” Alphys added as she turned off the monitors and slid the viewer back into the wall. June hopped down from the table and adjusted her clothes, pulling her jacket back on as she rubbed her eyes to rid them of the last traces of excess moisture.

“I guess I could use a little girl time. They _did_ try to lock me in the shed when we met,” she laughed weakly. “But, uh, I don’t…what exactly is anime? I hear other kids mention it at school sometimes, but I don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Alphys full on froze and stared at her, then looked pleadingly towards the brothers behind them.

“And you’re _sure_ I can’t just have her stay with me?”

“YES, DR. ALPHYS,” Papyrus sighed. “BUT YOU CAN WATCH ALL THE…ANIME…YOU LIKE AT OUR HOUSE.”

Sans went rigid, knowing his eye-lights had gone out. Oh stars. Oh stars, no. Papyrus…had no idea what he’d just done. But Alphys did, outright fangirl squealing as she grabbed June’s hand and raced for the elevator.

“You’re gonna help me pack! I have so many I need to show you!”

June’s laugh echoed off the walls as she let the excited scientist drag her along. Sans sighed and dragged his hand down his face. This was going to be a long, _long_ process.


	3. Chapter 3

Once the four had made it back to Snowdin and to the brothers’ house, they let Alphys warm up before Sans had her check out the damage June had wrought on their poor shed.

“Holy shit!” the muffled voice of the reptile had exclaimed from within her many, many layers when she saw the mess. “It’s…it’s split down the middle! In _splinters!_ How the hell did she – _how_ is she that _strong?_ ”

“not a damn clue, alph. but i’m thinkin’ it might have somethin’ ta do with her unusual Soul ‘n stats. i mean, that sure as hell can’t be a coincidence. we both know that.”

Alphys nodded, the motion barely discernible under all her protective clothing as she waddled back inside.

“It’s definitely something I’ll try to look into with her. That kind of strength is something you see out of a monster child growing into their magic, not a human kid. She’s such an oddity…we’ll see just what answers she gives when the right buttons are pushed.”

Sans nodded, opening the door and letting her back inside. And the scene they walked into…June was sitting on the couch facing Papyrus, who was red in the face, and she was frustrated about something.

“Why not?” the girl demanded.

“BECAUSE I JUST DO NOT WANT TO TELL YOU!! STOP PESTERING ME!!”

“Hey!” Alphys called over both of them, Sans helping her hang up her coat and other cold weather items. “What the hell’s going on in here?”

“I realized after you guys went out that I never asked what the colors of my Soul meant. So I asked Papyrus, but he won’t tell me! He just keeps getting all flustered and trying to not answer!”

Said skeleton’s cheekbones grew an even brighter shade of red, and Sans’ face went red as he choked on nothing. Fuck, she was really forward about her own Soul! No wonder his brother was so flustered and trying to dodge her question. Even Alphys blushed a tiny bit before shuffling over and plopping down next to June.

“Well, I’d honestly be more equipped to tell you than him, anyway. As the Royal Scientist, it’s part of my job to study Souls. So then, lay it on me. What questions do you have?”

Thank the stars Alphys had decided to stay over after all. It would have been hella awkward fielding all June’s questions himself, since Papyrus wasn’t going to be of any help.

“Well, for starters, you said it was weird that it had two colors. Why’s that?”

“Because all the human Souls we’ve ever seen before have only ever been one color. That’s why it stood out. And it’s possible that the two colors could have messed with your Stats. Oh, and about that…for freaking out like that earlier and exploding…”

“It’s okay, Dr. Alphys. You don’t have to apologize. I genuinely freaked you out, so really, the response was…unexpected, but also kinda normal? But yeah, totally not a big deal. Already forgotten.”

June gave the reptile woman a smile, and the sincerity of it really caught them off guard. The young girl was just…so chill and understanding? She had so much spunk and sass in her, but she could also be so…what was the word…sugary? No, sweet. She could be just so sweet, despite the sass and attitude. It was so fucking weird. Sans kinda wished she’d stop. It reminded him too much of Frisk.

“Uh…wow, thanks. You’re…a lot more understanding than I thought you’d be.”

June just shrugged and waved it off. Alphys shook her head and gestured for the girl to continue with her questions.

“Okay. So the colors themselves. Why blue and orange? Why that…complimentary?” June asked, making a face on the last word. She evidently was not content with the twin colors of her Soul.

“Well, the color tells you what your main trait is. There are a total of seven that humans can show, but only one ever shows up as their main trait. Well, except for you. You’re…”

“Weird, I know. But what do you mean, main trait? Like my personality?”

“Yep. Since your Soul is the very culmination of your being…I lost you, didn’t I?” When the girl nodded slowly, Alphys sighed. “Your Soul…it’s a physical manifestation of everything about you. Your hopes and dreams, your fears and nightmares, your virtues and vices…every memory, every emotion, every thought and feeling and experience that shaped you into who you are…that is a Soul, made tangible. And every human Soul has a color, dependent upon the trait that helps define who they are.”

“What about monster Souls? I mean, you guys all have clearly defined personalities and hopes and dreams and stuff. Why wouldn’t your Souls have a color?”

“Because monsters are made of magic,” Alphys sighed, wiggling in her seat a little. “And monster Souls are made up of love, hope, and compassion. Because of this, our Souls are white. They don’t have a specific color like human Souls do. Anyway, back to human Souls. For some reason that I have yet to fathom, your Soul has two colors. They could have been any two colors. And yet, they were orange and blue. I can’t tell you why those two, except that they are…you. They define you as a person. And thus, those are the colors you’re stuck with.”

June sat on this for a minute, the raised her head to ask another question.

“So what do they mean? Blue and orange?”

(They all turned their heads briefly at the sound of things banging in the kitchen. At some point, Papyrus had snuck by them and into the kitchen, and now he was going to cook something. Sans tried not to cringe. For the girl’s sake, he hoped it was edible. They all turned back to the conversation, Sans taking up Papyrus’ spot on the other side of June.)

“Okay. So…the seven colors. Going backwards here…purple is called ambition. Ambitious people with purple Souls can ride out almost anything that comes their way. They’re tough and stubborn, but since they find ways to soldier on, no matter what…they make for a hell of a good ally.

“Blue is honor. People with blue Souls have a strong sense of self, and are very honest. They’re never afraid to be true to who they really are, and they don’t let anything stand in their way when it comes to expressing themselves as they see fit. They make great artisans and crafters, among other things.

“Light blue – sometimes called Aqua or Cyan – is tactfulness. Those with a tactful light blue Soul tend to be pretty wise. They know when to pick their battles, and very little if anything will rile them up or spur them into action. When they do act, though – watch out. They don’t have to be the strongest fighters…they just have to outlast you.

“Green is weakness. Weak little green Souls are…nice. And sweet. And giving. All they do is give, give, give. They are generous to a fault, and are always looking to take care of others. They never want to hurt anyone, just help them. They’re also pretty damn gullible. Not stupid – just easy to trick. And easy to kill.

“Yellow is vengence. Vengeful Souls are pretty strong, as their number one goal is leveling the playing field. They’re the vigilantes, always thinking they’re the hero and whatever they think is wrong and immoral is the villain. They’re pretty tenacious, yellow Souls. Wouldn’t ever let my guard down around one of ‘em.

“Orange is aggressiveness. Orange aggressive Souls are tough bastards. The strongest of the strong. Orange Souls are the warriors, the fighters, the ones with the guts to do whatever they have to in order to survive…and if they’ve got something worth fighting for? Then there’s almost nothing that can stop them.

“And finally, red. Red is determination. Determined Souls are a lot like the purple ambitious Souls, but tougher. While an ambitious Soul might have some reservations about some of the things they’d have to do to get ahead or survive, the determined Soul just doesn’t care. They’ll fight on, they’ll struggle through, they’ll do literally whatever it takes to see their goals met. They wanna get somewhere? They wanna get something? There’s a goal of theirs and you’re standing in their way? _Move_ or get run the fuck over.”

June and Sans shared a shiver over the description for the red Soul. Alphys didn’t know just how right she was. Frisk had been a red Soul, and in their kinder moments, their goal had been to befriend everyone and kill them with kindness. In their worse moments…they had been driven to just plain kill, mowing down everyone in their path.

June, though, being some weird-ass fusion of orange and blue – aggressive and honor – she just made no stars-be-damned sense. And she seemed to pick up on that, scrunching her nose up as she processed the information.

“Okay…so I’m two colors, orange and blue, making me…aggressive and honor?”

Alphys nodded, looking pleased.

“Mm…new question. How come you needed that machine to look at my Soul? Couldn’t you have just started combat with me to observe it?”

“Er…yes and no. Down here, June, you don’t start combat without the intent to actually fight. While the Soul can be drawn out without starting combat, it…uh, um, er…i-it’s only in, ah…s-s-sexual encounters. And since that wasn't a situation that called for either of those scenarios, I needed the Soul viewer.”

June blushed at the mention of Souls being used for sex – frankly, all three of them were – and she fidgeted awkwardly.

“O-oh. That makes sense. Sorry I asked.”

“It’s fine. It’s my job to know this stuff. And though it’s not my job to teach it, I don’t mind teaching you. Not exactly often I get the chance to interact with humans, after all. Live ones, anyway, and not just their Souls.”

The girl nodded. Sans was a bit surprised she was taking all this so well. He was also surprised the Alphys was being this patient with the kid. Then again, as she’d said, she didn’t get the chance to interact with humans much beyond their Souls being brought to her for analysis. Having a live specimen to work with would be an enticing prospect for her…and hopefully, it’d keep June alive for a while longer while he figured out how to get her to change her mind.

“Okay, so, another new question. What’s with the funky names for the colors?”

Damn, June was a curious little thing. It was weird to think that she was even contemplating suicide, given that she didn’t display any real signs of apathy or depression. But he knew looks could be deceiving, and she had already made the point that her looks were incredibly deceiving. After all, the kid had _two Soul colors;_ not to mention that bizarre feat of strength she had evidently pulled by breaking down the shed door from the inside, and her weird as hell Stats…yeah, her looks were very deceiving.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean, why those names? Why call an orange Soul aggressive, or a green Soul weakness? In fact, green Souls…sound really nice.”

Alphys hesitated, thinking hard on it. Eventually, she shrugged.

“Dunno, really. I think they used to be called something else a long time ago, but that’s what we call them now. Except the red Soul. That one’s always been called determination.”

June snorted sharply, the sound coming off as amused.

“From the names of the others, I’m surprised no one tried to change it to something like ‘stubbornness’,” she stated frankly, getting a snort of laughter from the two monsters. “I’m just saying! It’s totally a thing that could have happened.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. If I get the chance, I’ll try finding out what the old names were. You’ve got me curious now. But, hey…I’ve got a question for you.”

June tilted her head, showing she was listening. But before Alphys could voice her inquiry, Papyrus called from the kitchen, his volume startling all of them.

“SANS, HUMAN, DR. ALPHYS!! I HAVE PREPARED SOMETHING, AS WE AND THE HUMAN HAD NOT EATEN ANYTHING BEFORE COMING TO THE LAB.”

“thanks, boss,” Sans called, slowly getting up. June and Alphys both shrugged and rose from the couch as well, walking side by side to the table.

“I’ll ask you after we eat.”

“Okay. So what’d you make, Papyrus?”

The tall skeleton glared at the child for daring to call him by his first name only, but let it slide, instead putting plates in front of the three before sitting down with his own.

“WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?” he answered crossly, and June stared at the thing on her plate.

On all their plates was a pile of what kind of vaguely resembled noodles, chunky red sauce spilled over them…and something glittering in the sauce. Sans tried not to grimace. Fuck, he’d put in the metal shavings again. If the kid ate this, she’d die for sure. And both she and Alphys were giving it dubious looks.

“Uh…I’m not sure? Some kind of pasta, I think? But I can’t really tell…”

“IT’S SPAGHETTI, YOU IDIOT!!”

June flinched a little, and Sans felt a sudden protectiveness wash over him. It surprised him just how much he wanted to smack his brother right then, even knowing that to do so would be incredibly dangerous. But really, what was Papyrus thinking? As messed up as her Soul was, they really needed to watch what they said and how they treated her. Otherwise…he really didn’t want to think of the alternative.

“O-oh. O-of course. The…sauce should have given it away. Duh. Sorry,” she mumbled, Papyrus blinking a couple times before realizing his mistake. He winced, but…was there even a way to salvage that?

“IT WAS AN UNDERSTANDABLE MISTAKE,” Papyrus tried to reassure her. “YOU CLEARLY HAVE NEVER HAD SPAGHETTI OF THIS QUALITY BEFORE, AND AS SUCH COULDN’T RECOGNIZE IT. THAT IS ALL. YOU ARE FORGIVEN FOR YOUR MISTAKE, HUMAN.”

“Uh…thanks…I think.”

She didn’t look that much better, but the slight scrunch of her nose meant her mind was at least back onto the inedible thing before them. Weird that Sans was getting so good at reading her after only knowing her for a day and a night. (Not counting the few days she’d spent behind the door with Toriel because the only thing he’d had to go off on then was her voice. This was entirely different.)

“Is…is that…what _is_ that?” June asked, finally wrinkling her nose big time at the bits of metal mixed in.

“METAL SHAVINGS.”

The look of shock on June’s face was priceless.

“I…I know I want to die, but…this is taking it too far. I’m not eating this.”

Oh shit. Really, kid?

“AND WHY NOT?”

“Because I _can’t_ eat this. Not only can my teeth _not_ chew through metal, but my body can’t even _digest_ metal. The metal would cause all kinds of damage, too, like to my really soft and sensitive insides? All the sharp bits would poke holes in me and cut up stuff, and it’d kill me by the end of the day. Sooner, maybe. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t really know. But it’d be really bad, and really ugly, and that’s not how I’m going out. I’m not eating this.”

They all blinked and paled, Papyrus the first to scoop the plate away from the girl. Sans had known that Papyrus’ cooking was toxic, but if just the metal could do all that to a human, she sure as hell wasn't getting even a taste.

“I…WAS NOT AWARE OF HOW DEADLY MY COOKING WAS. THAT INFORMATION WILL BE USEFUL, HUMAN.”

“…I’ll just pretend was a thank you and guess that I should say you’re welcome?”

“so…grillby’s?”

June turned her head to the skeleton and frowned, tilting her head.

“What’s Grillby’s?”

“bar ‘n grill down the street. grillbz is bound ta have somethin’ you can eat.”

June thought about it and shrugged.

“alph?”

She, too, thought about it and shrugged as well.

“Since it’s where she’s going. Besides, she’s got me curious about how human digestion works now…”

Alphys then poked a claw into the side of June’s stomach, and the girl instantly half-snorted/half-squeaked as she flinched away, weakly swatting at Alphys’ hand.

“Don’t!” she gasped, trying not to smile and blushing a little at their confused stares. What the hell had that been anyway? Some sort of human weak point he’d somehow never discovered with Frisk?

“That tickles…” she finally mumbled, confusing them more.

“…tickles? What the hell does that mean?”

“You don’t…oh my god, you’re serious. Okay,” June started, “so tickling someone…it’s like…someone pressures a sensitive spot on your body and it makes you laugh ‘cause it feels weird.”

Seeing the looks on their faces, June sighed and opened her mouth to say something more, but Alphys cut her off by poking her side again, getting another squeak out of her as she squirmed away from the touch, again swatting at Alphys’ hand.

“Stop it!” she laughed, smiling at Alphys. “But yeah, that’s it. You’ve got the idea.”

“So if I keep poking you in the side, it’ll tickle you. Then what?”

“Usually people will tickle each other until one of them makes the other stop. It’s fun to be the one doing the tickling…not so much the one being tickled.”

“You mean like this?”

Alphys dug her claws into June’s side, and the girl squealed loudly, followed by roaring laughter as she flailed and squirmed to get away from Alphys. When she fell out of her chair and landed on the floor where Alphys couldn’t reach her, June panted lightly before shooting Alphys an almost competitive look and flipping into a fighting stance.

“Oh, it’s _on,_ ” she growled playfully, pouncing on the surprised reptile. Alphys yelped, then began yelling and squealing with laughter herself as June assaulted her sides. Alphys tried to get away from the young girl, but she gave chase, instantly on the yellow monster again when there wasn’t an obstacle blocking her. After a few good minutes of the wrestling and tickling, Alphys finally slapped her hand against the floor, trying to tap out.

“I – I – I _give!_ I can’t – no more! Stop!” she begged, tears misting up her glasses. June relented, getting up and standing proudly over the wheezing scientist.

“ _That,_ Alphys, was a tickle fight, and _you_ just _lost,_ ” the ravenette purred, a smug smile on her lips.

Oh, so a tickle was a type of attack? But they hadn’t even entered combat…and weirder still, all the tickling hadn’t done any damage to Alphys. It only made her laugh. What the hell kind of attack was that?

“HUMAN!! YOU ARE TRULY A GREAT WARRIOR INDEED TO FELL AN OPPONENT WITHOUT EVEN DOING DAMAGE TO THEM!!” Papyrus said, looking over at Alphys as she tried to stop smiling while catching her breath. June turned to him and deflated a little, but she still seemed to be in a good mood.

“Uh, I didn’t…never mind. Look, when I said it was a tickle fight…it’s kind of just what we call it. It’s not actually fighting. It’s like a game.”

“so then…can ya show us how that works again?” Sans blurted, curious to learn about this himself. All the laughter would be good for June, so if he could figure out how this tickling thing worked, then maybe he could use it on her…

“Uh, well, I could, but I think Alphys has had enough –”

“No more…please,” the aforementioned monster interrupted softly.

“– and I don’t think it’d work on skeletons. You don’t really have anything to tickle,” she concluded, coming over and poking Sans’ non-existent stomach. Once she completed the action, though, her face morphed into confusion and she poked him again.

“How the…” the girl muttered, and Sans was trying not to blush. It was only a matter of time before she got curious about their magic, he supposed, but did it have to be right now? As she continued to poke his stomach in surprised confusion, he tried to push her hand away.

“cut it out, kid.”

“But how do you – you’re a skeleton! You don’t – or shouldn’t – have anything under there for me to poke! But it feels like I’m poking something solid! How even?” she added, continuing to poke with her other hand. Sans was actually starting to get annoyed now, because damn, her curiosity was a little out of control. Why couldn’t Toriel have kept her a little longer to teach her how this sort of thing works?

“it’s magic, kid. i can’t explain it better than that. now quit!”

“Well, try harder to explain,” June replied simply, ducking her head as she attempted to lift the edge of his shirt. “I wanna know how it’s possible for you to fill out your clothes like that when you’re a skeleton!”

Okay, nope nope hell-to-the-nope! He couldn’t stop the blush if he tried this time, having to be more forceful with her as he pushed her away and tugged his shirt back down. She glared at him for his efforts and kinda looked like she wanted to stomp her foot in protest.

“stars, kid! ever heard a’ personal space?”

“Then answer me!”

“i did! magic! that’s the answer!”

“That’s not specific enough! I’m not an idiot, Sans! I don’t need you to dumb it down for me. Just tell me how it works!”

Sans growled in frustration and dragged a hand down his face. True, she was older than Frisk, so she could probably understand the science behind their magic better, but that didn’t mean she had to be so damned determined to –

A lightbulb went off in Sans’ head. June’s Determination only flared up in certain situations, like earlier at the lab, and now with the magic. So her Determination was fueled by her bravery and her curiosity. She probably didn’t have much Determination left, since she was so set on getting herself killed, but what she did, she poured into whatever the situation demanded. Right now, it was her curiosity, her drive to learn. So if he could keep her curiosity burning bright, then it might generate more Determination for her to heal her Soul with. He almost smiled at the idea that came to mind.

“look, kid – what if i told ya i know someone even more interesting than me?”

“That’s…you’re changing the subject!” she frowned, frustrated. But after a minute, she huffed and let her curiosity get the better of her.

“…who is it? How are they ‘more interesting’?”

Sans did grin this time, glad it seemed to already be working.

“it’s grillbz, the guy who owns ‘n runs grillby’s. he’s a fire monster.”

June blinked blankly for a second while she processed that information.

“A fire monster? What’s that mean? Like, a literal living flame?”

“yup.”

June’s eyes lit up, her curiosity kicking into overdrive.

“How’s that work? What’s he look like?”

Sans got up, holding up a hand to stem the flow of questions.

“you’ll see once we get there. alph, on yer feet. you said you were coming too, right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the scientist sighed, getting up from her spot on the floor finally and brushing herself off.

“WAIT, SANS. I WILL BE JOINING YOU.”

“thought you hated grillby’s, boss.”

“I DO. BUT I CANNOT ALLOW THE HUMAN OUT OF MY SIGHT. IT IS MY JOB AS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD TO PROTECT THE UNDERGROUND FROM HUMANS, AND IT WOULD BE FOOLISH OF ME TO ALLOW THIS ONE OUT OF MY SIGHT FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME. SO I WILL BE JOINING YOU.”

Sans shrugged, gesturing his brother over. Once he had Papyrus and Alphys already holding on to him, he turned to June and held out a hand to her.

“hold on to me, kid. make sure your eyes are closed, ‘n you don’t let go.”

“Why?”

“because i’m gonna take a shortcut.”

June looked confused by this, but Sans wasn’t having any more distractions. He latched onto her wrist and covered her eyes, just in case, before teleporting. Papyrus’ and Alphys’ grips tighten on him as they teleported, having become used to the weightless feeling that accompanied it. June, however, gasped, clinging tightly to him once it hit, and leaned heavily on him once they arrived at their destination.

“I HATE DOING THAT,” Papyrus complained, and Alphys nodded in agreement as the dizziness, disorientation, and (possible) nausea took over. June leaned against him and trembled a little, clearly the worst affected by it. Whoops. He forgot that humans were more sensitive to his teleporting than monsters were…

“you alright, kiddo?”

June huffed and nodded, evidently not trusting her voice. Well, she wasn’t throwing up. That was a good sign, at least. Careful of her wobbly legs, he guided her over to the bar, which happened to have four stools open. (Score.) Alphys plopped herself on the other side of June, and Papyrus took the seat on Sans’ other side, leaving the dizzy girl sandwiched between the two shorter monsters. Well, at least she blended in a little better this way – she was around their height anyways.

Grillby distractedly waved at them from where he was on the other end of the counter, currently slammed with customers. Sans had no idea the bar got this busy during the day, since he was only ever here at night. Well, hopefully June would recover in the time it took Grillby to get to them.

And she did, looking around and fidgeting once she was stable enough to do so.

“I like it in here,” she remarked with a content smile, leaning on the bar. “Kinda…cozy, almost.”

“THERE IS NOTHING TO LIKE ABOUT THIS PLACE,” Papyrus sneered, and Sans had to resist sighing and rolling his eyes. Here we go again…

“THEY SERVE NOTHING BUT GREASE, AND IT’S ALWAYS FILLED WITH LAZY GOOD-FOR-NOTHINGS. LIKE SANS.”

June frowned and instantly turned on Papyrus.

“Don’t talk about your brother like that!” she scolded, much to Sans’ surprise. “If he’s here often, it’s for a reason. And, though your relationship is none of my business, if I had to hazard a guess? Well…let’s just say I don’t think you’d be winning any ‘brother of the year’ awards.”

No one was sure how to react to that. Especially Sans. Normally, he’d threaten anyone who said something like that to either him or Papyrus within an inch of their life…but she was sticking up for him. And hitting the nail on the head while she was at it – at least part of the reason he snuck away to Grillby’s so often was to get away from Papyrus. He loved his brother, sure, but…sometimes, they just couldn’t stand each other. So Papyrus would go and vent to Undyne, while Sans either went to Grillby’s or to vent to Alphys. And June, having only known them for less than a full day, had already picked up on their strained relationship. How the fuck did anyone respond to that?

“WHAT…ARE YOU SAYING, HUMAN?” Papyrus growled warningly, Sans still torn between anger and…some sort of weird warm fuzzy feeling for June having stuck up for him.

“I’m _saying_ you’re a jerk,” she retorted flatly, “and it wouldn’t kill you to be _less_ of a jerk to your own freakin’ brother. You’re family, for god’s sake.”

“SO?”

“ _So act like it._ A good family doesn’t tear each other down, or purposely hurt each other. They protect each other, they look out for each other, they _help_ each other. They make each other better. And that’s not what I’ve seen in the admittedly short time I’ve been around you two.”

“kid, let it go,” Sans finally said firmly, getting her attention. Why was she so worked up about this? He had figured out she had parental issues, sure, but this…what the hell?

“Seriously?” she practically snarled at him, surprising him again with her Determination. “You _letting_ him treat you like this isn’t helping matters. It only makes the relationship more toxic for both of you. Eventually, you’re gonna get to the point where you can’t even stand to look at each other, let alone talk to each other, or even be in the same room. Don’t you want to have a decent relationship with your brother?”

Now her gaze was snapping back and forth between the two, demanding an answer out of both of them. Where was all this Determination coming from? Where was all this _emotional relationship bullshit_ coming from? And how the hell did they make it stop?

“IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, HUMAN,” Papyrus finally snapped back. “AS _YOU_ ALREADY STATED.”

“Maybe, but…look, family is a big deal to me. And I just don’t like what I see between you guys, alright? Trust me, broken families majorly suck. And if you guys are all you have…I’d rather see you guys at least tolerating each other, rather than at each other’s throats.”

Now she sulked in her seat, having decided the argument was over. Sans risked a glance to Alphys, who looked just as surprised and confused as Sans. Evidently family was a sensitive topic with her. One that should probably be explored sooner rather than later.

Sans was snapped out of his thoughts by Grillby rushing past them…only for his flames to sputter in surprise before he doubled back to look over their party again. Why was he so surprised to see them? Yeah, Papyrus and Alphys were rare to see in the bar, and the human kid was new, but –

The short skeleton could have smacked himself. Stars be damned, he was not on his game this timeline! How could he have already forgotten that Grillby was a pre-war monster who fought in the war itself? He’d always reacted negatively to Frisk, but Sans had always had ample time to warn the bartender before showing up with them. In those situations, Grillby was on his best behavior. But now? No warning, unpredictable new human, war veteran monster with an understandable hatred for humans…Sans’ anxiety was skyrocketing, not just from the mini scene June had caused already, but now from this, too. Disaster was the only outcome he could see here.

And now Grillby was coming over, flicking his gaze between Sans and the girl. (Looks like the family talk was getting pushed to later after all. Whoops.)

June was too busy moodily tracing the patterns in the wood of the bar to notice Grillby coming at first, but when he stood between her and Sans, she looked up. Grillby was focused on Sans, so he missed the girl’s expression instantly shift from sour and grumpy to awe and wonder and excitement.

“Sans…” the fire elemental glared at him. “You have five seconds to explain what’s going on here.”

“Whoa…” June breathed, drawing Grillby’s attention. “You’re…oh my god…that’s…that’s _so cool!_ ”

She was practically shouting in excitement, almost jumping out of her seat to study Grillby. Then she paused, her grin widening before her head slammed down onto her arm as she started cracking up.

“Oh my god, I didn’t even mean to do that! Sorry not sorry for the pun!” she laughed, and Sans could practically feel her Soul brightening already. He actually began to relax a little himself, laughing some at the pun. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe bring her here wasn’t such a bad idea.

Papyrus groaned loudly while Alphys snickered behind her hand, Grillby just staring at the bizarre child.

“grillbz, this here is june. she’s a human. obviously. we captured her, but she’s…”

He hesitated to share the information about how bad her Soul was, given that practically the whole bar was listening at this point, but June beat him to the punch, sobering rather quickly.

“My Soul’s really messed up. Bad enough that Asgore can’t use it yet. So we need to fix it first. Which is part of why I’m not dead yet.”

Sans blinked at her bluntness but sighed and nodded when the bartender turned his stunned gaze to the skeleton.

“yep. and until it’s fixed, she’s stayin’ with us.”

“And you chose to bring it _here?_ ”

After a brief (tense) silence, Alphys piped up with, “I wanted to study the effects of monster food on humans, and you were the closest edible place to get food for her.”

The tension eased (barely) as Grillby accepted the excuse with a curt nod.

“So, hey…” June started, pulling Grillby’s attention back to her. “I…kind of have a lot of questions for you. Like, how is it you burn purple, when every other fire I’ve seen burns in red, orange, yellow, white, and/or blue? And how do you not burn your clothes? Or your bar? I mean, all this wood and alcohol – that’s flammable stuff. How the hell do you manage that? Can you control the temperature of your flames or something? Would it hurt me to touch you? Given that you have glasses and stuff, you probably have to do dishes – how do you manage that without hurting yourself? Because, I mean, water and fire never mix well. Wait, does water actually hurt you? Or does it just, like evaporate on contact? Either way, the question of how you do dishes still stands.”

“For the love of –” the flame elemental hissed, his flames shooting up in annoyance, finally interrupting June stream of questions. “What do I have to do to get you to shut up and get out of my bar faster?”

June stopped, leaning back some from her position on the bar, her bright and inquisitive expression slowly beginning to diminish.

“You…don’t really like humans, do you?” she asked softly, her tone betraying her disappointment. Grillby huffed and shook his head, folding his arms across his chest. The girl deflated further, lowering her gaze to the bar and clearly trying not to be too obvious in how much that actually hurt her.

“Okay. I get that. Humans were the ones who locked you down here, after all. I’d hate humans, too, I guess,” she sighed, mostly mumbling. “Never mind the questions, then. It’s not important. And never mind about the food, too. I’m…not even hungry, anyway.”

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit._ Sans knew this was gonna be a disaster. Dammit, Grillby! This was exactly the opposite of what they’d brought her here for!

“kid, you haven’t eaten anything all day,” Sans pointed out, trying to catch her eye. She halfway slid her eyes his direction before settling them back on what was in front of her with a shrug.

“when was the last time you actually ate?”

“…yesterday evening before you captured me, I guess,” she replied, shrugging again. Well, at least Toriel had fed her before she’d left the Ruins, but it certainly wasn’t helping matters now.

“It’s not a big deal. I’m just not hungry. I’ll eat when I actually get an appetite.”

“kid…” Sans sighed, dragging a hand down his face before glaring harshly at Grillby, noticing Alphys doing the same out of his peripheral vision. “grillbz. we need to talk. privately. _now._ ”

“I second that,” the reptile woman said coldly, both shorter monsters getting up from their stools and moving towards the back. The fire man rolled his eyes behind his glasses and lead them into his back room, turning on them once they were alone.

“What? Did you really not expect me to react like that when you brought a fucking _human_ to my bar?” he spat before either one of them could get a word out. Both bristled, and it took a lot of self-control out of Sans not to throw Grillby up against the wall. He was getting shockingly protective of June, but right then, he really couldn’t be bothered to care. Anxiety and social bullshit be damned. She was hurting, and he was trying to help her. In his mind, Grillby was currently on the fast track to getting dunked on if he kept this up.

“Grillby, you have no idea what she’s been through!” Alphys fired back, “Hell, _we_ don’t even know what she’s been through! She hasn’t told us! But it doesn’t matter, because she’s the last Soul we need to break the barrier, and right now, her Soul is too weak and unstable to actually be of any fucking use!”

The flames on the top of Grillby’s head sputtered a bit in surprise at Alphys’ statement, but he recovered quickly enough.

“So? How bad can it be? Just shove some monster food down its throat and the damn thing will be fine again before you know it.”

“except that ain’t gonna work,” Sans snarled, his already thin patience reaching dangerous levels. “her Soul is _this fucking close_ to shattering, you stupid fuck – and that’s not even mentioning how fucking _dim_ it is. if every monster in the stars be damned underground left her alone long enough, she’d fall down all on her own.”

Grillby stared at Sans, as if unsure how to process that information. He looked to Alphys for confirmation.

“It’s true, Grillby. When they brought her to me for examination, the very first thing they did was ask her why she was in the Underground. They already knew, but did it to prove a point, because her answer? I swear on the sun, I will never forget this now that I’ve seen the condition of her Soul. She said that she threw herself into the mountain to kill herself. And that she still wanted to.”

The bartender’s flames spiked to a new height in his shock, then burned lower than Sans had ever seen them. No doubt he felt like shit now that he knew the state she was in.

“That’s…that can’t be. Humans…”

“i know. i didn’t think it was possible either. but she’s serious, grillbz. she’s a thirteen year old kid who would rather die than go back to the surface. and she’s willing to let us use her Soul to get out, as long as we can use it. and as damaged and dim as it is, there’s no way her Soul would be enough to break the barrier with the rest of ‘em.”

“But…why? Why the hell would…stars, thirteen? That’s barely even a teenager. What would possess someone so young to…to just end it all?”

“We don’t know. I at least haven’t at the nerve to ask,” Alphys admitted.

“she hasn’t said and doesn’t want to talk about it, so i haven’t made her. won’t do any good forcing the information out of her anyway. i’m sure it’s somethin’ that’ll come up the longer we keep her around, but for now, we’re just tryin’ to find ways to keep her from…well, basically what you saw out there.”

Whoa, Sans had no idea Grillby’s flames could go that low without it meaning he was hurt or dying in some way. Then again, he was laying the guilt on pretty thick.

“...has it even…attacked anyone? Has it at least killed one monster?”

“no. she doesn’t have a single damn EXP to her name. and not once has she lifted a finger against a monster. she hasn’t exactly been tryin’ ta make friends or nothin’, but she refuses to fight back or hurt anyone.”

At this rate, Grillby might actually extinguish himself. The fire monster swore under his breath and ran a hand across the flames atop his head, pacing the tiniest bit. There was no doubt now. Grillby understood just how severely he fucked up, and the guilt was eating at him something fierce now. _Good._

“Damn…I really didn’t think something like this was possible…”

“Neither did we.”

“look, grillbz…i think we both know what you’re gonna have to go out there and do. and i’m not saying you have to pretend to fuckin’ adore her, but for fuck’s sake…try to be civil to ‘er. i know why you hate humans. we all do. we all get it. but try not to go spouting more of that shit in front of her anymore. we can’t afford to lose this one, because stars knows when the next one’s gonna come down.”

(Okay, so his own reasoning was a lot more personal than that, but that was the reason everyone else was going to try to be…well, not _good,_ per say, but better at least, when it came to the girl. Besides, it wasn’t like he was wrong.)

Grillby practically – no he did, fucker – hissed at the idea of swallowing his pride and risking his reputation to apologize and humor the kid. But after a second or two, he calmed and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nonexistent nose.

“What…exactly do I have to do to cheer it – her – up?”

“bring her some damn food for starters. like we were talking about out there, she hasn’t eaten since last night. kid’s gotta be hungry by now.”

“Alright. I can do that.”

With that, the elemental shooed the two out of the back room while he prepared the food. Sans and Alphys shared a look before going back to their seats, both freezing when they saw that June was being held in place by gravity magic. Only two monsters knew that, and one of them had been talking to Grillby the whole time.

“uh, boss? why the hell are you using your magic on her?”

“BECAUSE THE HUMAN ATTEMPTED TO ESCAPE AFTER YOU AND DR. ALPHYS LEFT.”

“What? Why?” Alphys cried, her head whipping to June.

“Because I know where I’m not wanted, and there’s no point to me being here if I’m not wanted here,” she snapped harshly, jerking her head towards Papyrus next. “Tell jerk-wad supreme here to let me go so we can leave.”

Damn had her mood soured. Understandably so, but still. And there was no telling what the current state of her Soul was, though he doubted it would take much to set her off again. The darkness that pervaded the very air around her was something he expected to see on monsters, not a human. Least of all, her. He hated it. If he could kill her depression and suicidal thoughts, he would do it in a heartbeat. (Damn, when did he get so protective over her? The fuck? Later, focus on it later.)

“no can do, kiddo. grillbz in whippin’ somethin’ up for ya. it’s be rude to walk out now,” Sans replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. June scowled over at him, the wisps of red trailing off her from Papyrus’ red magic almost making her look demonic.

“I said I wasn’t hungry. I don’t know what you told him, but –”

They all jumped a bit when the plate clanked on the wooden bar top, Papyrus accidentally releasing the girl. She, however, didn’t make a break for it. She was too busy staring in surprise at the fire monster before her and the burger and fries he set down for her. After a too-tense pause, he leaned towards her a bit, trying to be more intimidating.

“ _Eat,_ ” he hissed at her, and she just blinked at him, not fazed any more than that. Once she finally recovered, she glanced down at the food, her expression turning dark and dour again as she looked away.

“Why? Why bother making this for me? I thought you didn’t like humans. I thought you didn’t want me here.”

Oh, Sans could feel that one. He knew her cutting words were true, but it didn’t stop the cringe that ran through everyone else at the bar. Even Grillby was masking a wince.

“I don’t. But, like it or not, we need you. And having you die of starvation won’t do anyone any good. So eat, dammit.”

Sans couldn’t see the girl’s expression, but he’d bet ten gold that it read something stubborn as she muttered back, “I’m not hungry.”

Grillby’s flames flared in annoyance, and his gaze shot to Sans with a small gesture to the girl as if to say, “You see? See this shit?”

Sans made a small gesture back, one he saw Alphys mirroring – try again. So the elemental huffed a sigh and stared at the girl a minute before an idea seemed to finally hit him, his flames where his mouth was splitting in a jagged grin.

“Tell you what. Every time you take a bite of the food, I’ll answer a question you have. You actually eat something _and_ satisfy that curiosity of yours. Deal?”

June regarded Grillby with a stony expression, Sans watching her sharp, piercing, too perceptive eyes searching for a trick. Finally she broke eye contact, glancing down to the food before looking back up at Grillby. Slowly, she lifted a hand and picked up a fry, then popped it in her mouth. Grillby shot her a satisfied smirk, settling down in front of her to wait for her question. Sans and Alphys relaxed, glad the fire elemental’s idea worked. At least she was finally eating, if guardedly. Once she swallowed, she stared down Grillby, the sharpness in her gaze now accented by a sort of cold intelligence the short skeleton would have expected out of Alphys.

“Deal,” she finally said, dark eyes never leaving the bartender. “First off, besides the obvious, why do you hate humans?”

“I fought in the war between humans and monsters. I saw what they were capable of firsthand. That kind of thing is hard to forget…and damn near impossible to forgive.”

June nodded, absorbing the knowledge in silence, her gaze back to the wood grain of the bar. After a moment, she raised her gaze again, looking up at him through her dark eyelashes.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, her eyes and voice clear. The apology caught everyone off guard, and if anyone had been trying (or pretending) not to pay any attention to the human girl, now they all stared at her. Sans began to sweat some. What the hell was she doing?

What was really odd was that there was no pity. She didn’t pity Grillby, nor was she looking to throw salt into his old wounds. June was looking at the purple fire monster with sympathy and understanding. How could a thirteen year old kid be sympathetic and understanding to something like surviving a damn war?

(Her scars, Sans remembered. They still didn’t know how she’d gotten them, only that not all of them were from fights. Had she been through something bad enough for her to understand the kind of pain Grillby went through?)

“What?” Grillby sputtered lightly. June sighed, cast her gaze away, then settled it on the bartender once more.

“I said I’m sorry. For what you had to go through. I…I’ve never been in a war – too young – but I understand. Humans are shitty. Apparently they were shitty then, and most humans are still shitty now. Humans can’t even stand each other. I can’t imagine how they must have been to monsters. At least it’s something we can agree on. Humans suck big time.”

“That they do…you hate your own kind?”

June snorted with a little smirk, though there was no mirth in either action.

“Buddy…” she chuckled bitterly. “Let’s just say there’s a reason my Soul is the way it is and leave it at that.”

A chill shot through the room at her words. It was obvious other humans had been the one to damage her so badly, since all of it had come with her when she fell, but it was still disheartening to hear. And, to Sans, it made his magic boil just a bit to think of. He couldn’t wait to get June to tell them just who had hurt her so badly, because someone was getting fucking **d u n k e d o n f o r t h i s .**

June popped another fry into her mouth, signaling she was ready for a subject change. Once she swallowed, she tilted her head to the side curiously.

“How long ago was the war?”

“Centuries ago. We monsters have much longer life spans than humans.”

“Oh. That makes sense,” she mumbled thoughtfully to herself, putting another fry to her lips. “So how old are you, exactly?”

“Rude,” Grillby chided, but there was a small smile in his flames. “I’m one thousand eight hundred fifty years old by human measurement.”

June’s jaw dropped, and frankly, so did everyone else’s. Grillby had never revealed his age to anyone before! The normally silent bartender was not only being very chatty with the human girl, but now he was just giving her personal information? Sans could hardly believe how well this was going, as the turn of events really was starting to improve her mood already. That, and he was a bit jealous that the man he’d known for so long had just opened up to a little girl that the elemental had only met today.

“ _One thousand eight hundred fifty?_ Holy freaking shit on a stick! What are you, _immortal?_ ” she shouted, and the elemental actually laughed, his flames crackling and popping in amusement at her reaction.

“I’ll answer that one outside the deal. No, I am not immortal, but select types of monsters come pretty close.”

“Whoa…shit, dude! That’s crazy! I mean, when you said the war was centuries ago, I thought maybe a couple or few hundred years. Not almost two thousand!”

Grillby continued to be amused by the girl’s reaction, while the rest of the bar was reeling from the revelation themselves. As none of them had actually known how old the flaming bartender really was, it came as a shock how long he’d been around. They all knew he’d been a general in the king’s army – the youngest of the generals, yet one of the toughest by far – but for him to be so old…

“Wait, hold on. You said that’s the measurement for humans. What does that mean?”

Grillby shook his head with a sly smile and gestured to the plate still sitting in front of the child. After a quick confused glance to the food, she seemed to remember the deal and snatched up a fry, munching on it as she gestured for Grillby to answer her question.

“It means that monsters mature and age differently than humans do, so our ages are more relative. Knowing the number as measured by humans makes me seem old to you, but it’s not the same for we flame elementals.”

It was clear her burning curiosity returned with double strength the more she knew, and she quickly chewed on more fries as she thought of more questions. And Grillby did his best to answer her honestly, though not all her questions were strictly about him or fire elementals. She had finished her fries by now, with only her burger left, but the mood in the bar had significantly relaxed, most of the monsters going back to pretending almost convincingly that they weren't watching the girl like a hawk.

“I still have so many questions…” June eventually sighed, spinning a little on her barstool.

“You don’t say. I would never have guessed from your inability to shut up.”

“Sassy for a walkin’ matchstick, ain’t ya?”

“You’re one to talk, child. You’ve got spunk, though.”

“Thanks. Though most people don’t call it spunk.”

“Oh?”

“They say I’ve got a bad attitude. I say they can go jump off a building and mind their own business.”

This got a round of laughs, and Sans was finally starting to get comfortable…or, as much as he could get. (Turned out, June had almost fought with Papyrus there in the bar when she tried to leave earlier. There had been shouting and sass and people cheering for the Royal Guard Captain. How the three monsters in the back hadn’t heard any of that noise was a wonder, but it had been resolved peacefully, so Grillby wasn’t particularly worried about it.)

“So, child…I have a few questions of my own I’d like answered.”

June tilted her head at the fire monster, and Sans was suddenly very suspicious of the bartender. His jagged mouth had made a reappearance in the form of a wide smirk, and he was leaning on the bar close to the ravenette as the two had relaxed around each other.

The girl laced her fingers together with a little smile and propped her chin on her interlocked fingers.

“Depending on the topic, I might just have answers. Lay ‘em on me, hot shot.”

Sans and Alphys snickered while Papyrus and Grillby groaned.

“Don’t. You have no idea how many times I’ve heard all manner of heat and fire related puns.”

“Yeah…” she grinned, drawing out the word. “Sorry not sorry. Anyway, your questions?”

“Yes. I remember humans having skeletons, but I never got to really study that. Is there anything about it you can tell me?”

That fiery motherfucking son-of-a-bitch. So that’s what he was up to! Payback for putting him though this! Sans wanted to run from this conversation, stay and smack Grillby around some (which would never happen anyway), and stay out of scientific curiosity anyway. Papyrus was definitely uncomfortable with where this was going, while Alphys was already snickering, but looking mildly interested herself. Traitor.

June finally leaned back and shrugged, picking up her burger and taking a bite. (Now that she didn’t have to be prompted to eat to get questions answered, they stopped getting excited over it.)

“Well, I’m no doctor or anything, but I can tell you a little. Like…the human skeleton has two hundred six bones when fully grown. Um…I’m sorry, you’re gonna have to be more specific about what you wanna know.”

Huh. Interesting little fact, at least. But since Grillby clearly didn’t have as tame ideas as June probably would, this was probably going to go downhill fast.

“Is there any way to see the skeleton without harming you?”

“Well sure. X-rays are one way of doing it. It’s where doctors take pictures of our bones with this fancy machine so they can tell if anything’s broken or damaged. But in some places of the body, you can see the bones through the skin anyway. Especially if the human is really skinny.”

That was…far less innocent, though in a medical standpoint, he could see how it wouldn’t be seen as anything bad.

“Oh really? Like where?”

“Lots of places. Our ankles, our knees, our elbows… the knuckles on our fists. See? See the way my skin stretches over this hard thing? Those are my knuckles. And if you feel them, you can pick out some of the bones, too. Like the edges of my radius and ulna above my wrist bones. Here, let me show you.”

June then reached out and took Grillby’s hand, wrapping it around her wrist and pressing his fingers to specific spots on her wrist. The look of surprise and actual interest on his face was rather intriguing, but Sans was more focused on what the girl was saying. And, hell, she’d even named a couple of the actual bones of her arm! That was surprising.

“See? If you press here, you can feel the bones under my skin.”

Grillby hummed with interest, and June gently moved his hand to feel her bones through her skin.

“And see, if you move to my hand here…and further along, towards my knuckles…you feel that, right? And even in my fingers…”

Okay, now it was starting to bother Sans. How was she just okay with letting the bartender feel her up like that? Even if she did have skin in the way of him actually touching her bones…

“And here! There are even places across my head and face you can feel them, too. Like my mandible, here, and my cheekbones, here. Like, put your fingers over mine. Yeah, feel right there? Kind weird, right? Oh, but here…”

She now reached up and moved Grillby’s fingers towards her eyes as she closed them, moving the pressure by sense of touch alone.

“Here’s the edges of my eye sockets. And…that’s the edge of my nasal cavity.”

“So that would be your skull under there?”

“Yep. But I’m not nearly as much of a bone-head as these two,” she joked, jerking her head towards the actual skeletons in the room. Grillby shifted his gaze to them…and somehow managed not to laugh at their bright red faces. June didn’t even look their direction as she continued to think.

“Oh, and right here, these little points? That’s my collarbone. It’s pretty visible. Oh, and if I took off my shirt, you could see my shoulder blades through my back.”

Oh damn, this was getting to be a bit much. Sans really hoped she’d shut up right about now…

“And you could probably see my spine, too – or at least feel it. And because of how skinny I am, if I leaned to the side, you could really see my ribs, too.”

“THAT IS ENOUGH!!!” Papyrus finally screeched, sending Alphys and Grillby into fits of laughter at the two skeletons’ expense. Both of their skulls were entirely red, dammit, and all because the kid…obviously had no idea just what she was talking about in their presence.

As Grillby thanked the girl on the anatomy lesson and wandered off to tend to another customer, Sans glared at her sharply.

“What? Oh, wait, I forgot you guys are weird about the human skeleton. Sorry,” she smiled sheepishly, but obviously wasn’t all that sorry. After a second or two, though, she started giggling over his red skull and leaned over conspiratorially.

“If you wanted a turn, you could have just asked. No need to be so _sternum_ about it.”

Sans practically fell out of his chair at that, spluttering and choking on the gulp of mustard he’d taken. Shit fuck stars, June! Damn this kid! She accuses him of pedophilia in the morning, then flirts with him and uses a fucking _bone pun_ that same day? The fuck is wrong with this kid?!

“the fuck is wrong with you?!”

June just laughed, her own face flushing from the force of her laughter.

“Oh my god, _your face!_ I c-can’t…oh god!” she cried between laughs.

And of course Grillby caught her words, too, having come back and was about to pass them. The flame elemental was doubled over behind the bar, trying desperately to compose himself as his entire body shook from the effort of trying to contain his laughter. That’s it. It was time to fucking go.

“we’re leaving. come on,” Sans spat, grabbing the girl’s arm as he yanked her roughly from the chair. She laughed, letting him drag her off the chair as Grillby finally straightened, Alphys and Papyrus slipping from their stools as well.

“Nice talkin’ to ya, Grillby! Hope we can do it some more!” June chirped, waving to the bartender before Sans teleported, not warning her this time. (He was so quick about it, he had to double back for Alphys and Papyrus, who were both understandably annoyed about being left behind. But June was a little more sober after the sudden teleportation, so he didn’t care.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing really to say this week. I hope you guys enjoyed, and see you next week for more!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, quick warning, if you're reading this alongside my other work, Breaching the Multiverse, then spoilers ahead for BtM. This chapter deals with June's past, and most times in my works, that's a constant, since it shapes her into who she is. It doesn't deal with all of it, but it's a large chunk of it, so if you don't want spoilers for one story or the other...I'd suggest keep reading this one and hold off on BtM for a while. The chapter that deals with June's past in BtM isn't for a while (as of posting this chapter), so if you don't like waiting long, go ahead and keep reading this one. Oh, and if you're here from Orange and Blueberry Skies, then this stuff has already been revealed, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys like this chapter, and see you next week for more!

After getting settled back down at the house, Sans pretended to sleep on the couch while June and Alphys talked, since the reptile had remembered she’d had some questions for June to answer as well…none of which were related to skeletons, thank fuck. He wasn’t sure if he could handle that again. (Fucking hell, Grillby. That would be something to be discussed later when he visited the bar.)

“Okay, so one of thing I wanted to bring up…when Sans and I stepped out earlier, it was so he could show me the damage you did to the shed. How did you do that? Break the door like that? I mean, I’ve never heard of a human being that strong before…”

“That’s because most aren’t. Most humans need years of training and stuff to do that. And then they usually need more than just their bare hands and feet. But I’m weird, so…”

“Well, yeah, we established that you’re weird. That doesn’t answer the question, though. How?”

June hesitated, and Sans could feel the couch shifting with her fidgeting.

“I…I don’t really…” she sighed, settling. “I’ll tell you, but only if you promise not to…well…just…I like you, okay? I think you’d be a good friend. So please don’t be scared of me once I show you.”

The vulnerability in her voice made Sans open his eyes, glad her back was to him. He could see Alphys’ expression, though, and it was surprised without a doubt. Hesitantly, Alphys nodded, and June sighed, shifting around some more.

“Okay, so…I’m…kind of a freak, even among humans. Shocking, I know,” she added with a roll of her eyes. (Ouch – that was some heavy self-deprecation, there, kid.) “Anyway, what I mean by that is…I have these…powers that other humans don’t."

Sans froze, staring at June. Mentally, he begged her not to start talking about the Saves, Loads, or Resets. He didn’t think he could handle going through that again. Not with a suicidal human.

“I have super strength, and I can fly.”

Sans blinked and relaxed, but was now confused. What the hell was she talking about?

“…super strength?”

“Yeah. It’s…how I broke down the door. I told you how other humans need years of training and then some to be able to break it like I did? Well, I did that without it because of my super strength.”

“And flying.”

“Right…I actually have wings for that.”

“You have…wings.”

“Don’t sound so skeptical! I can prove it.”

June quickly scooted off the couch and about faced, somehow not noticing Sans staring and eavesdropping with interest. She shed her jacket, then pulled her long hair to the side. After a tiny hesitation, she also hiked her shirt up like she was going to take it off, causing a glowing blush to erupt on Sans’ cheekbones. Stars fuck, what was she doing? Why? And at this rate, his magic would permanently settle on his face.

She stopped before actually pulling the garment over her head, leaving her exposed back to Alphys. The scientist was staring in awe and fascination, clearly stopping herself from reaching out and touching the girl’s back.

“S-so many scars…” the blushing yellow reptile murmured. “What…what are these words and this picture? What do they mean?”

“I’ll explain those in a minute. You wanted to see my wings, right?”

“Well, yeah, but now I can see them…and you can’t fly with those.”

What the hell was she talking about? Things on June’s back and not being able to fly with the wings she saw?

“Ah, but you see…those aren’t the wings I fly with.”

June seemed to focus a little, and the magic in the room fluctuated a little oddly (what the fuck?) before there was a glow…coming from behind June. Then her pinched expression relaxed – right as a pair of large white wings burst from her back, spreading wide dramatically and shedding feathers as they did. It startled both monsters (Papyrus was out doing rounds and checking his puzzles/traps), and Sans couldn’t stop his mouth from actually opening for once as his jaw dropped.

There was an old prophecy about an angel coming to the Underground…and June…no. No way. There was no fucking way the kid they talked about was her. But the wings now tightly folded against her back made for some damning evidence. June herself turned back around to face Alphys, leaving her shirt bunched up above her downy wings. (Oh, so that’s what Alphys had meant by words being on June’s back – in an elegant and flowing font, six words seemed to outline something on the girl’s back. Huh…)

“These are the wings I fly with.”

“No shit,” Alphys breathed, scooting closer to the girl without leaving the couch. “Can I…can I…?”

“Touch them? I mean, sure, if you want to. It’ll feel kind weird for me, but that’s okay. My sister liked to see them and touch them, so she’s got me mostly desensitized to it.”

June shrugged as she talked, and Sans noticed the light striking the feathers of her wings just right – and it looked like one wing had a slight orange shimmer to it, while the other had a slightly blue sheen. Like her Soul. Red flags shot up in Sans’ head, but June had already turned and extended a wing for Alphys to examine, with Alphys reaching out to touch it.

The girl shivered when Alphys’ hand met her feathers, and Alphys herself gasped and drew her hand back in alarm. The scientist flushed bright red and shot June a look.

“Y-you didn’t tell me th-they were…! How do you even…?”

“What? I told you it’d feel weird for me. But I don’t mind. Seriously. Go ahead if you’re curious. The only thing that’ll hurt me in regards to the wings is if you pull out feathers or break bones or pierce the skin or something like that.”

“Th-that’s not what I’m…! Ugh! Do you really not know this?!”

June just tilted her head to the side, folding the wing against her back again.

“Well I obviously can’t tell what it is I’m supposed to know if you don’t tell me what you’re talking about.”

Sans carefully picked up a stray feather from the floor. With the light hitting it at just the right angles, the feather changed from an orange shine to a blue one, back and forth, and sometimes managed both. Exactly like June’s Soul, dammit. And from Alphys’ reaction…the thought that came to mind was right. Somehow, the wings were connected to her Soul.

“I’m t-trying to tell you…oh fuck, why is this so hard? Your wings…are magic. Like us. And weirder still, they’re directly connected to your Soul.”

“What? But…I don’t…how? I don’t understand.”

“And you think I do? There’s never been a human with _magic_ before! We’re all flying blind, here! What the fuck even…”

Sans wasn’t sure what possessed him to do it, but the next thing he knew, he was reaching out to touch June’s wings, only barely paying any attention to the conversation. When his phalanges brushed along the folded edge of her wing (holy fucking shit, they were as soft as they looked), June jumped, instinctively spreading her wings as she angled her body away from the touch. This, unfortunately, resulted in the girl slamming her wing into him, knocking the wind out of him so hard he saw stars, and throwing him over the edge of the couch with just her wing. He laid on the ground and wheezed, trying to get his breath back at the same time as recover from the hard hit. She hadn’t intended to hurt him, thank the stars, but it still hurt like a mother.

The sound of the air moving and the fluttering of wings was the only indication that June had moved, and Alphys was calling his name worriedly. (He could tease her about being worried about him later. Right now, he was still stunned and in pain.)

“ow…fuck…” he managed weakly after a minute, able to roll onto his side and sit up. Stars be damned, everything was sore now.

“Sans? Are you okay?” June murmured, her voice surprisingly close. He glanced up at her, huffing a breath in irritation.

“do i fuckin’…look okay to you?”

“I’m sorry!” she blurted, and this time, she was completely sincere. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you! You just scared me and I couldn’t stop it! I thought you were asleep…”

Sans huffed again, not bothering to answer her. At least he’d managed to make his eye lights work before he’d looked up at her. _That_ would have really scared her.

Before he could think about it further, he was wrapped in a tight (slightly painful) hug, making him freeze and his eye lights disappear again. Even Frisk had never touched him if they could help it…but the soft press of flesh against his bones was unmistakable.

“I’m sorry,” June murmured, still hugging him as she buried her face against him. “Please don’t be mad. I didn’t mean to, I swear. I’m so sorry. Please don’t be mad, Sans…”

Oh, damn. This side of the spunky sassy kid he’d grown to want to protect was new, as this side was soft and submissive. It was strange. Why was she begging so hard for him to not be angry? Sure it had hurt, but he wasn’t mad. She hadn’t meant to attack him, so there was no reason to take offense. But the display of her pleading for forgiveness…it sparked something in his Soul he actually recognized from raising Papyrus. Dammit. Now there was no getting around it. He cared about the mysterious human child.

Sighing at the revelation, he made himself relax into her embrace, awkwardly attempting up hug her back and rub soothing circles into her back. Sans propped his mandible on her head and let his eyes drift closed.

“it’s alright, kid. i ain’t mad,” he soothed gently. “hurt like a motherfucker, but i ain’t mad. ain’t nothin’ to get mad over. ya didn’t mean it.”

June nodded, tightening her grip slightly. Sans tried not to wince, but she noticed and hurried to let go.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t think…”

From the look on June’s face, she knew she’d hurt him, and she was definitely beating herself up over it. Sans already knew her self-deprecation ran thick, and after all the effort it had taken to get her into a good mood earlier, he was not about to let this ruin it. Even if the progress was minimal at best, it was still progress, and he refused to let her backslide now. He huffed at her again and pulled her against him roughly, not bothering to mask the wince this time. He hugged her tense form anyway, this one already better than the last.

“think i care about that, kid? so what if i get a little banged up? now i know better than to touch your wings without your consent or knowledge. lesson learned. and that’s what this is for everybody. a learning experience. every damn monster in the underground is rough around the edges, and maybe helping you will teach us something in return.”

(Starting with himself, evidently, he thought. He wished he knew how she’d managed to worm a soft spot in his Soul for her already. Maybe it was because she could remind him of Frisk sometimes. Maybe Frisk had softened him up. Who the hell cared? She needed the comfort, and he was doing his damnedest to give it. He hadn’t totally messed up when it came to Papyrus, after all. He hoped he could do the same for June.)

After a minute, June finally relaxed in his arms, curling up against him while she softly murmured “I’m sorry” over and over. Then an idea seemed to hit her, and she struggled to straighten and get him to let go of her.

“Where’s a pen? Or a marker?”

Both Sans and Alphys blinked at the girl in confusion. What the hell? Sans snapped his fingers, teleporting a pen from his desktop in his room and handing it over with a questioning brow bone raised. She ignored the look as she took the pen from him and uncapped it, turning it to draw on the back of her hand. And she was drawing with Determination. What the hell…?

She capped the pen again and showed him what she’d drawn – a stick with squiggles around it and wings – before she closed her eyes and focused. The little pen drawing began to glow as Sans’ eyes grew wide, definitely pinpointing the magical fluctuation in the room to her. Determination practically flowed from her as she then opened her eyes again and placed her glowing hand against his sternum.

“k-kid?”

“Hold still. I won’t hurt you,” she said, her voice calm and sure. June then closed her eyes again and refocused whatever she was doing, the glow from her hand getting brighter. Then…

Sans felt his body relaxing against his will, a hissing sigh slipping from between his teeth, and he had to fight to keep his eye sockets open. Whatever June was doing, it spread a warm and cozy feeling through his bones. Whatever she was doing, it was healing his aches from her wing slamming into him, he realized a second later. But it didn’t feel like healing magic, not completely. The intent and warmth from the healing was there, but it lacked the distinct feeling of magic seeping into the body. This was something else entirely.

She sighed and retracted her hand before he could analyze it further, and the girl looked pained and haggard. She quickly blinked away the expression before turning her gaze to him once more.

“How do you feel? Better?”

“yeah…but how did you…?”

She smiled enigmatically, if a bit strained from how obviously tired she now was. (Did that take up a lot of energy for her? Shit, that could be bad if she had to do that too often.)

“My powers. I was going to explain before, but you startling me kinda ruined that. Anything on my skin can be used for a power. This pen drawing, a word in marker, one of my tattoos…like for my wings. As long as it’s on my skin, I can use it to give myself new powers.”

“Tattoos? Is that what the picture and words are?” Alphys interrupted. June turned her head and nodded to the reptile.

“Tattoos are basically ink that’s been injected into a person’s skin to make a picture. The real explanation is way more complicated than that, and I don’t know everything, but…yeah.”

Alphys started to reach for June’s back, then hesitated.

“You wanted to know what the words meant, right? And you can touch my tattoos, by the way. It won’t be any weirder than touching my skin as normal.”

The reptile nodded, tracing a claw over one of the words as she glanced to June for an explanation.

“I can’t really see them myself, so I couldn’t tell you which words specifically means what, but I know what they all mean together. The words are in an old human language called Gaelic. I don’t know it personally, but…” she added with a shrug. “Anyway, the words translate to strength, beauty, wisdom, courage, compassion, and loyalty. The only one I can actually make any use out of for a power, though, is strength.”

Sans and Alphys looked to each other, the realization clicking at the same time: the broken shed door. Her “strength” was how she’d kicked it to smithereens.

“When you say strength…” Alphys started, as June stood, brushing herself off and offering a hand to Sans to help him stand.

“I mean it gives me super strength. It increases my natural strength to a point that borders on impossible for a human to feasibly achieve normally.”

“and you can just…give yourself any power you want, just because it’s on your skin?”

“Yep,” June confirmed, showing both of them the symbol she’d drawn on her hand. “Like this – I didn’t have the ability to heal others before I drew this on my skin, but now I do.”

“What _is_ that?”

“It’s a medical symbol. You see it a lot on hospitals and junk on the surface. It’s a symbol that represents healing and health. I forget what it’s called. Something with a C? Anyway, the thing is about stuff like this, when it’s something like a pen drawing or a word in marker or anything else that can fade, the power goes away once it fades. But because the tattoos are permanent, I’ll always and forever have super strength and the wings.”

“They’re…permanent? But what if you decide you don’t like it anymore? What if you want it off, or want to change it?” Alphys asked, looking a little horrified at the idea. It wasn’t that much different than scars, Sans realized, but he could see her point. June just shrugged.

“I’m not sure. I mean, I know some people can get them removed, but I can’t. I’ve tried. And getting them removed hurts. As for changing it…you’d have to get another tattoo over the old one. Either way…if you don’t like what you got anymore, it’s kinda a ‘sucks to be you’ situation.”

“hold up. why can’t you get them removed if it’s possible for other humans to?”

That definitely threw up a red flag in Sans’ mind. What would be different about her? Why wouldn’t she be able to get hers removed the same as any other human? Was it whatever gave her these powers – this magic, since that’s obviously what it was – in the first place? Again June shrugged.

“I don’t know. But when my mom tried to have them removed, they wouldn’t…I dunno, burn off like they were supposed to?”

Both monsters recoiled in shock at those words. Fucking hell! Just what kinds of things did humans do to each other?! 

“Wha – they tried to _burn off_ the tattoos?! Were they using fire? And why?!”

“Whoa, geez, calm down. Yes, they tried to burn them off. I don’t know why. It’s just the procedure they use to do it. And no, they didn’t use fire. They used lasers.”

“ _L-l-l-lasers?!_ ”

“Jesus, _calm._ This is really getting you guys riled up. Sorry I even mentioned it…” June muttered, clearly not understanding their reactions. If this was something common to humans, then it made sense she wouldn’t get it. But damn, humans sounded pretty fucking brutal to each other. They’d have to be to do things like injecting each other with ink and burning their skin off if they wanted the tattoo removed.

“and that’s… _normal?_ ”

“No. Hardly. No one my age normally has tattoos. Heck, no one my age when I got them had tattoos. Like, who gives a five year old tattoos? _Hello?_ So it is definitely _not normal_ for a little kid to have to get them removed and it not work. But I’m honestly partially convinced the universe looked at me and said, ‘F you. F you in particular,’ because I mean, there is hardly anything about me that qualifies as normal. So, yeah,” the girl finally trailed off, clearly not sure what else to add to her impromptu rant.

Fuck, though. June was definitely right about one thing. Who would give a kid as young as five something as permanent as a tattoo? Why? And really, when she mentioned her mom, it was the first time in a while she had brought up either of her parents. That was a point Sans still had to push with her, he remembered. There was still that whole scene at the bar they had to talk about, where she scolded the brothers about their relationship. She had said family was important to her…yet she never mentioned her family if she could help it?

“Can…can I ask something?” Alphys said, snapping Sans out of his thoughts. Right, focus on the kid so they could get to the bottom of things. June nodded, turning to face the scientist.

“ _Why_ exactly did you have tattoos so young?”

June hesitated, then dropped her gaze, looking away from both of them. This was clearly something she didn’t want to talk about.

“I…” she started, and Sans could practically feel that she was going to say exactly that. Then she stopped herself and sighed.

“It was…because of my dad. He…he was drunk, and he snuck into the house when he wasn’t supposed to, and he took me for ‘daddy-daughter bonding’. I was five, so I was too little to fight back. I was too scared. So he took me to my godmother’s tattoo parlor and promised me ice cream afterwards. My godmother didn’t want to do it, but…she knew my dad. She knew he’d go berserk if he didn’t get his way. And my dad was a terrifying man when he was angry. So she gave me the tattoos. Really, I’ve never held it against her. She was only doing what she had to. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt for little five-year-old me to get tattoos of wings and Gaelic words on my back. And Mom went ballistic when she found out. She never blamed Dad, though. She should have – it was his idea, he was the one who took me there in the first place, and if he hadn’t been drunk – anyway, she never blamed him. She always tried to blame Celest. My godmother. I always set her straight…well, I tried. It’s hard to reason with someone when they’re determined not to listen. Anyway, that’s…how I ended up with tattoos at five.”

Oh man. They had just stumbled on something big here with June. Drunk father, obviously oblivious or neglectful mother, whatever the hell was up with this godmother thing…no wonder she had parental issues. But it didn’t answer the question of what was up with her and family.

“That…sounds pretty rough. You have a bad history with your dad?”

“You could say that,” June said darkly, her scowl filled with intense hatred. Damn, and she felt that towards her own father? Sans wondered what could have caused such a reaction.

“wanna talk about it, kiddo?”

“Not really. But you guys want me to, don’t you?”

“Well, it’d…certainly answer some questions for us.”

“Like why a kid would want to commit suicide, right?”

They both flinched at the bite to her words, but Alphys nodded anyway. June sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest from where she sat on the couch.

“before that, though…why not put your wings away? seems like you’d be more comfortable that way.”

June glanced to him, caught off guard. She then shifted her wings and winced, pain flashing across her features. She settled them again and shook her head, still grimacing.

“No can do. At least, not right now. When I hit you, I think I hurt my wing. As long as they’re injured, I can’t…get rid of them, draw them back into me? I dunno. I don’t know how these damn things work. But I can’t make them go away as long as they’re hurt.”

Sans nodded, thinking on that. Well, if that was the only issue…he snapped his fingers, teleporting a monster candy down from his stash in his room. He normally reserved that for when he was hurt after a fight or something, but in this case, he didn’t mind sharing. Thinking as much, he offered the candy to June, who took it with a small confused frown.

“it’s monster candy. it’s made with healing magic, so it’ll take care a’ your wing.”

June looked up at him in surprise, then back down to the candy. Her lips twitched in what could have been a smile, if she’d put more effort into it. She murmured a thanks before unwrapping it and popping it into her mouth, a real smile flitting across her features when the taste (or the magic, maybe) hit her tongue. She sucked on it in silence for a bit, finally making her wings go away when they were healed enough to do so. (Good. It was getting really awkward to talk to her, with her shirt bunched up the way it was because of her wings.)

Once she gathered her thoughts enough, June placed her chin on her knees with a sad little frown. This was evidently something they needed to settle in for.

“So I guess I should start from the first thing I remember, huh? Well, the first thing I remember…was Christmas when I was three. It was the first time Dad came home drunk. Mom tried to calm him down, but alcohol always made him angry and violent. Meaning her attempts to appease him didn’t work. He started beating her. Mom barely made any noise and hardly reacted when he hit her, but I was too little to understand what was going on. I only knew that Daddy was hurting Mommy, and he shouldn’t do that. So I tried to stop him. I guess Mom had either forgotten I was there, or hadn’t thought I’d do that, because she looked shocked that I intervened. Then Dad started beating me, too. That’s when Mom reacted, and she tried to stop him. It went back and forth like that for a while. One of us would draw his attention, trying to keep Dad from hurting the other. Eventually, beating us both wore him out, so Dad went back to my parent’s bedroom to sleep off the alcohol. Mom made sure he wouldn’t wake up before dressing what of my wounds she could, warning me that crying too loudly would wake him up, and he’d hurt us both all over again. So I tried not to cry. She secretly drove us both to the hospital that night. And it didn’t stop there. Dad would come home most nights drunk after that, and we’d go through that routine. He’d take turns on who he was beating until we tired him out, then we’d go to the hospital in secret so he wouldn’t find out. Sometimes, though, Dad…if he wasn’t tired enough before Mom and I couldn’t take any more physical abuse, he’d…he’d take her back to their bedroom. And they’d both be yelling and screaming, and at the time, I had no idea what he was doing. I thought he was just hurting her more in private, though I didn’t understand why he was yelling then, too. After all, Mom only fought back if he was hurting me. Now I know he was…Dad would…I can’t even say it. He did to her what shouldn’t ever be done to anybody ever.

“Then, when I was five…well, it happened like I told you. The whole ‘daddy-daughter bonding’ over the tattoos thing. The next thing to change was that, not long after that, Mom told him she was pregnant. After that, Dad got better. He stopped drinking, stopped beating us, he tried to control his temper…he tried to be a good dad. He tried to make it up to us. He tried to make it better, and like none of it had ever happened. And he was good. Things were so good…I almost didn’t want to believe he was the same man who’d hurt us…”

June paused to collect herself, tears having begun falling after she mentioned how good her father had become after the news of her mother’s pregnancy. She took a minute to stop the tears and get her breathing under control again before continuing.

“Then, my baby sister was born. I was six at the time. Dad was still good then, and tried really hard to stay that way. For me, for Mom, for my sister…but it didn’t last. My sister wasn’t even one when he went back to drinking. And then it was that _nightmare_ all over again. Only this time, me or Mom would try to hide my sister when he got started, trying to protect her. And doing that, he didn’t lay a finger on her. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. We’d take the beatings, though, and that part didn’t change. Even though I got really good at fighting back. Didn’t stop me from getting hurt, though. See this scar?” she added, pointing to one trailing over the curve of her shoulder, from back to front. Both monsters nodded.

“I got that one from the time he threw me through the front window. The glass shattered, and I ended up on the front lawn covered in broken glass and shit. I got pretty badly cut up from that one. And this one, here?” (Now she lifted her shirt and pointed to one that crossed her ribs, trailing towards her middle.) “It’s from when he smashed me into a chair so hard, it broke under me. The legs splintered and stabbed me pretty good. And these? Can you guess what happened for me to get all these?”

Now she was pointing out various deep scars all over her arms and legs, lifting her pant legs to display the ones on her legs. The monsters shook their heads, waiting for her to answer.

“All of these are from when he threw me into the TV. Literally. He picked me up and threw me at the screen. I smashed through it and into the set itself, since it was an old TV, and my momentum knocked the set onto the floor with me still inside. That was one of the few times someone called the police about Dad, and paramedics had a damned difficult time getting me out. I almost bled out twice that night.”

Sans wasn’t focused on Alphys’ reaction to June’s words, but he could guess her reaction was as bad as his. And he was pale and shaking. So the truth finally came out about just who had hurt her so badly…and it was an ugly, bloody, awful truth. It was her own father, her abuser for years. It made Sans sick to even think about. True, monsters were awful to each other, and familial relations were always tense, but family was still family. You didn’t hurt family. This, what June talked about…was wrong on so many levels. And Sans had never wanted to dunk on someone so hard in his life. But from the look on her face, she still wasn’t done.

“Yeah. So when I told Grillby I understood where he was coming from? I wasn’t just saying that. I might not have been in a war, but Dad left me just as messed up. And at some point, I actually stopped thinking of him as my dad and he was just my abuser. Which I guess is a good thing? But whatever. Anyway, because of him, I ended up discovering my powers when I was seven. No one else knew, and I was just practicing and messing with them in secret, trying to figure out how they worked. It was partially how I got so good at fighting back, even though I tried not to use my powers on Dad if I could help it. I mean, I never used my wings, but I tried not to use my strength unless it was absolutely necessary, like to protect my sister. And then, when I was eight…"

She paused again, hugging her knees tightly as she closed her eyes and made herself take steadying breaths.

“When I was eight, Dad came home in the middle of the day, drunk off his ass. We weren’t expecting that, since he always came home drunk at night. Mom was inside with my sister, cooking. I was outside playing. I didn’t even know anything was wrong until I heard my mom use this special tone she and I had worked on to let me know in secret to get my sister to safety. But before I could do more than turn around, she cried out, ‘cuz Dad hit her. Next thing I know, I’m staring at Mom on the floor inside, and Dad has his hand raised to hit her again, and a bottle in the other hand. I run inside to stop him, but he catches me off guard this time, and thrashes me before I have a chance to do much. And with my sister still in her playpen, and not somewhere safe, she sees everything that’s happening, and she starts crying. With me and Mom both stunned and on the ground, he turns to her, and I…I just…I see where this is going. I know what’s going to happen before it does, and I get scared. Mayflower, May, my itty-bitty baby sister, was only two. If Dad hurt her, he would kill her. She wouldn’t be able to take the abuse like me or Mom could. And I tried to reason with him and tell him that, but he wouldn’t listen. He just kept getting closer and closer to her, the bottle in his hand having broken at some point while he beat me and Mom.

“When I saw him start to raise the broken bottle, I just…snapped. I was suddenly just so _angry._ I was angry with Dad for not being able to keep it together, not just for himself, but for his family, too. I was angry with Mom for not having the spine to stand up to him and do more to keep him out of our lives. I was angry at everyone who’d ever looked at our scars and bruises and wounds and bandages and never did anything to help us. I was angry at myself for being so young and helpless and powerless to stop him. And I was angry at the universe, at whatever powers that be, for letting this happen to us. I was blinded with rage, and…and my powers activated on their own. I had been drawing on myself while I played outside, testing the limits of my powers, and one thing I drew was a little flame. And it was that one that activated, and my hands got so hot with my anger, and…I don’t know what I was planning to do. To this day, I can never remember what it was I intended to do, but all I know…I was determined to stop him, by any means necessary. I wasn’t going to let him hurt my baby sister. And I took all of two steps before I tripped. With all the rage and wrath I had, I went and F-ed it up by tripping,” she laughed humorlessly, shaking her head at herself.

“But then, the strangest thing happened. As I threw my arms out to break my fall, the heat left my hands. And the next thing I know, I hear Dad screaming. I look up, and he’s on fire. He’s running around like crazy, bumping into everything and catching other things on fire, and he’s screaming, and Mom and I are too stunned to move. We both just lay there, watching him. Once he stops screaming and disappears into their room, I come to my senses and pull my Mom to her feet, then get May out of her playpen. Once I have them both, I run for the front door. We made it out of the house okay, but May wasn’t breathing. That’s when Mom starts screaming. When I see what’s wrong, I do the first thing that comes to mind: I heal my baby sister. I had drawn this symbol on myself, too – funny coincidence that I did, actually – and then May is awake and crying again, and Mom is sobbing, and I’m just hugging them both, glad they’re okay. I stand there and protect them from anybody trying to get too close, even paramedics. Mom had to make me let them examine us. When they did, they were shocked to find the evidence of abuse, but the only thing we got from the fire was smoke inhalation to our lungs. And May was in perfect health, not even the smoke thing affecting her. The paramedics said it was a miracle. That May should have died. And they called me a hero for rescuing my mom and sister from the fire. But I didn’t feel like a hero. Especially not when they put out the fire, and said…Dad didn’t make it. They found his body on the bed in their room.”

June wiped at some tears that had started rolling down her cheeks, not looking at either monster. After a few steadying breaths, she continued.

“Mom never looked at me the same after that. She never outright mistreated me, or called me names, or neglected me or anything, but…it was never the same. It was like she would look at me, and…and she had stopped seeing me. Like I wasn’t even there, and she was looking at something else that had taken my place. My own mother, terrified of me and distancing herself from me…can you imagine what that’s like? What that _feels_ like? It…on top of everything else, when I finally realized what was going on with her, I…it was all just too much. The bullying, the harassment, Mom, my powers…I just couldn’t take it anymore.

“God, _there._ That should be everything you wanted to know. I hope that’s everything, because I don’t wanna do this again. I hope you guys are happy. I…I need a minute,” June hopped up off the couch, heading for the front door. Sans felt a tug in his Soul, and he wanted to stop her. He wanted to dry her tears and hold her close and tell her everything would be alright. He wanted to make her better again, to heal the hurt from her memories. He wanted to take away her pain. But he hesitated, and it was long enough for her to slip through the front door.

Alphys stayed where she was on the couch as well, not moving to stop June either, despite also looking as if she wanted to. But the cold would kill her, and Sans…he was too shocked to do much more than sit there reeling from her story.

Shit. _Shit._ This answered so many questions, while raising a shit-ton of new ones. It answered why her LV was higher than one, though not why it hadn’t affected her EXP. It answered why she had decided at thirteen to end it all. It answered why she had issues with her parents, and semi-answered why family was such a big deal to her. But none of it answered the question of why she had powers (magic, come on, let’s call it what it obviously is) in the first place, nor did they have any new knowledge about her bizarre Stats and Soul. Yes, it explained why her Soul was as dim and damaged as it was, but not about the colors.

But even all the questions aside, just the knowledge of what this poor kid had been through…shit was tough. He knew that better than anyone. But even Sans had to admit that she’d been through too much. She didn’t deserve this. June didn’t deserve any of what she’d been through, and it was…in its own way, disappointing that June had already (if accidentally) taken care of the one who’d hurt her. Then again, as much physical damage as her father had done…just how much of the scarring on the girl’s Soul was her mother’s fault? Because there was no way in hell that June’s mom wasn’t just as much to blame as her dad for what had lead to her trying to commit suicide.

The front door opening again finally snapped Sans out of his thoughts, and made both smaller monsters jump. It didn’t snap them out of the shock that June’s story had left behind however. So neither of them had much reaction when it was Papyrus who strode through the door.

“I HAVE RETURNED FROM CALIBRATING MY TRAPS!!” the tall skeleton declared. Sans’ mind finally caught up to him once his brother spoke…too little, too late, since June was already out the door and stars knew where by now.

“SANS? DR. ALPHYS? WHERE IS THE HUMAN?”

“oh shit. oh shit, alph. she…fuck…”

“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no…how could we just let her go like that?!” Alphys cried, putting her head in her hands as the obvious panic began to set in for them both. Funny enough, it wasn’t Papyrus they were worried about. At least, Sans wasn’t. He was more concerned with June running into a monster who would be all too happy to actually off her like she wanted. He was definitely more concerned that she’d left without her jacket. And he sure as shit was more concerned with the fact that she was now alone somewhere in the Underground, most likely in a very poor mental state since they’d made her talk about her life on the surface.

Sans started muttering curses under his breath like they were his mantra, getting to his feet and grabbing the girl’s jacket.

“HOW CAN IT BE GONE?! HOW DID THE HUMAN GET AWAY FROM YOU?! AND SANS!! WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?!” Papyrus shrieked, outraged.

“to find ‘er before she does something stupid. or worse. alph, you stay here. going outside is too dangerous for you. i’ll call you when i find her.”

Alphys nodded, clearly trying to control her facial expression. Compromised human or no, this was still the Underground after all. Show no weakness. Kill or be killed. Sans just hoped he could find and reach June before it was even something she had to consider.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!_** There are a few mentions of blood in this chapter, as June gets injured at one point. I'll fence them off with exclamation points so it can be skipped, and leave summaries of the skip-able sections in the end notes.

Sans was out the door before Papyrus could stop him, taking off walking down the street with June’s jacket slung over his shoulder. It had only been a few minutes, right? She couldn’t have possibly gone all that far. He made short work of the calculations for how far she could have gone in the amount of time she’d had to get her head start, teleporting to the approximate location ahead of where she should be. But no little raven-haired girl.

Well, there was always the other way out of Snowdin, heading towards Waterfall. He really shouldn’t have assumed she’d head back towards the Ruins. He shook his head before he could start self-deprecating. There’d be time for that later. Doubling the distance of his teleport, he blipped to the new location. Still no June. Okay, there was no way he should have missed her by this much. Had he overshot the distance? He ran through the calculations again and realized, no, he was right. She should be here.

Assuming she had walked. He wasn’t factoring in if she had changed her speed at all, and he almost hit himself for it. If she had started out walking, then it turned into a run (or even a faster walk for that matter), her distance covered would be greater than his initial calculations. Fuck! But there was no way of knowing just how far she went, then! Or in which direction, since the constantly falling snow obscured any footprints left behind. And it wasn’t as if he could call all that many people to help look for the girl. Just about anyone he could call would want to kill her themselves. Fuck. Fuck!

Okay, think, Sans, he told himself. He had to put himself in June’s mindset in order to guess her actions. She had just been talking about and reliving something horrible. She was emotionally unstable, and guessing what she might have been thinking with her depression wasn’t hard. So, since she had been in an emotionally vulnerable place when she’d left the house, it would make sense she herself wouldn’t actually pay attention to where she was going. She would have just…picked a direction and started going. Walking, running, crying even, as her thoughts chased her. But which way? And when would she have started running? (June seemed like the type that would start running at some point, even if it was blindly.)

Well, she would have recognized the two paths when she left and realized that there would be a higher chance of running into other monsters if she walked back through Snowdin – not to mention the chance of running into Papyrus. So she probably would have turned the other way, not knowing what lay beyond Snowdin besides Hotland. What she didn’t know, however, was that Waterfall was between Snowdin and Hotland. And there were monsters there that hadn’t seen her with the skeleton brothers, and so they wouldn’t realize she had already been captured. (Or was being protected. Either way one wanted to look at that.)

Including Undyne. Sans, who had started out pacing in the snow, then walking with purpose for Waterfall once he realized that was the more likely place to find the missing human, suddenly stopped walking when the thought hit him. Undyne lived in Waterfall. And as far as Sans knew, Papyrus hadn’t said anything to the fish woman yet about the human child. And if Undyne saw the girl…

“oh fuck. shit fuck. shit fuck, shit fuck, shit fuck…” he chanted under his breath like before, teleporting at least to where Snowdin gave way to Waterfall. He had no way of knowing where in Waterfall June would be, but he knew he had to find the girl before anyone else. Especially before Undyne found her. He honestly wasn’t totally convinced that Undyne wouldn’t kill the kid and take her Soul, regardless of the current state of it. Undyne most likely wouldn’t present it to Asgore for use, but he wasn’t sure she wasn’t above performing a mercy killing for the suicidal human.

Walking as fast as he dared, yet still trying to appear natural, Sans scoured each area of Waterfall he came to. He was beginning to get frantic in his search…when he heard singing. Shyren? No, couldn’t be. She wasn’t nearly confident enough to sing by herself. Besides, that didn’t sound like Shyren’s voice. At least, not from what he remembered from Frisk’s runs where they’d sing with Shyren. He almost convinced himself to ignore the singing and move on, but the question nagged at him who the (actually rather pretty) voice belonged to, and he knew better by now than to ignore anomalies in the timeline. (Present timeline included, despite the fact that everything about this timeline so far was an anomaly.) Sighing to himself, he made himself head towards the voice, just to see who it was. Then he’d get right back to –

The skeleton stopped in his tracks when he found the singer. Relief crashed over him like a tidal wave. There was June, sitting before an Echo Flower, singing something to the Echo Flower. And better yet, she looked to be unharmed and undiscovered. Thank fuck. But now he was curious. What was June singing? He teleported closer without her noticing and listened intently. Weird, she stopped singing…oh, wait, no. She’d just finished one song and was starting to sing something else.

“ _I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known. Don’t know where it goes, but it’s only me, and I walk alone. I walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams, where the city sleeps, and I’m the only one, and I walk alone. I walk alone; I walk alone. I walk alone; I walk a–_

“ _My shadow’s the only one who walks beside me. My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating. Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me. Until then I walk alone._ ”

Wow…this song…sounded lonely. And Sans could certainly understand the sentiment. After everything that June had gone through, it was only natural for her to feel alienated and alone. But that aside, the song itself was a good choice for June, as it complimented her voice rather well. Who knew she was so talented?

“ _I’m walking down the line that divides me somewhere in my mind, on the borderline of the edge and where I walk alone. Read between the lines, what’s fucked up and everything’s alright. Check my vital signs to know I’m still alive, and I walk alone. I walk alone; I walk alone. I walk alone; I walk a–_

“ _My shadow’s the only one who walks beside me. My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating. Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me. Until then I walk alone. I walk alone; I walk a–_

“ _I walk this empty street on the boulevard or broken dreams, where the city sleeps, and I’m the only one, and I walk a–_

“ _My shadow’s the only one who walks beside me. My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating. Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me. Until then I walk alone._ ”

Sans was still sitting back, impressed with June’s voice. She was really talented. He almost wished she would go up against Shyren, like Frisk would on their pacifist runs, just to hear her sing more. But he knew if he wanted to keep her safe (and alive), he’d have to come out of hiding and bring her back to the house. Just as he was about to do that, he heard her sigh, and he hesitated.

“Right volume, wrong mood. I’m not feeling lonely…and it’s hard to feel like I’m actually ever alone down here. Even if I do feel alone sometimes because of what I’ve been through. Any suggestions for songs?”

The Echo Flower repeated back what she said in a higher pitch, and she sighed again.

“I figured not. A talking flower that only ever repeats what it hears isn’t exactly helpful. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll come across the right song eventually.”

After a pause, June straightened her posture, about to sing something else. Then some strange music cut through the air, and June’s head snapped up at the sound.

“What’s…? Huh…cool. Weird and cool.”

Sans would recognize that song anywhere. It was one of Napstablook’s songs, but he could never understand why Frisk had liked it. Maybe it was just a human thing, but the odds of June liking Napstablook’s music as well…then June was getting up and walking away from her Echo Flower. Why was she following the music? That’d lead her straight to the ghost monster! Sans blipped along behind her, unsure what to do. Let her encounter Napstablook, or intervene before she reached him?

He was still struggling with the choice when she walked up to the ghost’s house, the ghost monster himself sitting outside. The girl tilted her head a little and approached carefully.

“Hello?”

Napstablook jumped and whirled around, spotting the human immediately.

“A human? How…how did you get this far into the Underground…? Who are you? What do you want?”

“Sorry to bother you. I just…heard the music and wanted to find out where it was coming from. Is it yours?”

“Yes…I made it myself…” Napstablook replied guardedly, wary of her starting off with an apology.

“Really? That’s cool,” she smiled, everything about her honest and genuine. “Well, I wanted to tell you I liked it.”

Napstablook looked surprised by her admission and honesty, but then floated a little higher and away from her, a hurt and frustrated mask on his face.

“You’re just saying that…”

“No, I’m not. I really like it. Honest.”

“Stop lying…”

“I’m not!”

“Stop it and go away!”

June gasped and visibly shuddered, her Soul pulling free of her chest suddenly. Shit fuck, Napstablook was starting combat with her! Sans instantly began to panic, though rather than leap to her rescue, it was like his bones were made of lead. He was frozen in place, only able to watch the scene unfold.

June and Napstablook both stared at the girl’s dim orange and blue Soul, as if they weren’t sure what to do. Sans was almost certain June actually didn’t know what to do, since she had the first move in combat. But Napstablook almost seemed transfixed by the damaged little heart floating before the ravenette.

“What…happened to your Soul…? They don’t…they aren’t…”

“I know. They’re not supposed to be two colors, they’re not normally as dim and damaged as mine…that’s why I’m still alive. I was captured by two monsters from Snowdin. Sans, and his brother Papyrus, captain of the Royal Guard. They took me to see the Royal Scientist, Alphys, this morning about my Soul. That’s where we found out about…that,” she sighed, gesturing to her Soul with a frown. “Alphys said if we worked on it, it’d get better. She told me there was a way to fix it.”

“You…want to fix the damage to your Soul…?”

“Yeah. You guys can’t use it like this. I guess I should explain,” June added to Napstablook’s confused expression. “See, I came here to kill myself. I’ve got severe clinical depression and suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Throwing myself into the mountain is actually the fourth time I’ve tried to kill myself. But I didn’t know you guys were down here when I threw myself in. But now that I know you guys are here, and you need one last human Soul to break the barrier, I’m willing to be that Soul. But right now…I mean, look at it. It’s not nearly strong enough for King Asgore to use on the barrier with the other Souls. So I’ve gotta try and heal it some first.”

“You…wanted to die? And you’re okay with having your Soul harvested for us to use?” Napstablook asked, stunned. June nodded. And this time, the ghost couldn’t claim she was lying. The proof was sitting right there, the nearly shattered Soul barely giving off enough light to illuminate its owner’s face.

Napstablook floated a little closer to her, looking sad as his acid tears welled in his eyes.

“Why would you want to die…? You’re so young…a kid, right…?”

She sighed and nodded, wrapping her arms around herself and looking away.

“It’s a long story I don’t feel like retelling right now. Sorry,” she added, mumbling the apology.

(How had Napstablook known she was a kid? Yeah, she looked young for a human, but most monsters hadn’t seen a human before, so they would have no idea what the difference was in age for a human. But looking her over, Sans realized what it was. The shirt she wore…was a gradient of light purple to dark purple, in horizontal stripes. Of fucking course. How had he not registered that sooner?)

The ghost nodded sympathetically.

“It’s…okay…I didn’t mean to make you tell me anyway…and it’s your move, by the way…”

“Huh? Oh, right, combat. Uh…well, I don’t really wanna fight, so…I Act. I…Cheer! I meant it earlier when I said I liked your music. And if you want, I could even show you some stuff from the surface your music reminds me of,” June smiled again, being honest. Her Soul even brightened a little with her kindness towards the ghost and her honesty. Wait…was that a thing? She was both aggressiveness and honor…so it would make sense that her Determination would respond to both her bravery and her honesty, just like her curiosity. (Then again, she had been honest with them about her life on the surface, and that had not helped her at all, so…maybe it was conditional. That was a thought for another time.)

“Oh…” Napstablook murmured, only now realizing she had to be telling the truth. The little ghost monster even blushed a little.

“Thanks…I, um…have to attack you now…”

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

Napstablook then launched his attack, the surprise on June’s face only there for a second before Determination dominated her expression, and she concentrated on dodging the acid tears. Her Soul moved with her, ducking and weaving through the tears as she physically dodged. Unfortunately, it was clear she wasn’t as good at dodging as Frisk had been, because two tears hit her Soul back to back, and she cried out, dropping to the ground, one hand clutching her chest where her Soul would be if it were inside her. The girl grimaced and tried to catch her breath, watching blood start oozing down her arm from the slash that appeared after she took the hits to her Soul. But wait…that had been two hits. So where was the other gash?

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

Shit, though. Even if it wasn’t much, damage to her already low health was still damage, and it was this that finally freed Sans from whatever had been holding him back before. He instantly teleported between the human and the ghost, rage his main expression. And Napstablook had a right to look frightened then.

“just can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” he growled over his shoulder to June, who looked shocked to see him. He then returned his attention to Napstablook, the ghost hovering low to the ground and trembling slightly.

“and you. how dare you hurt **my human.** i’d say you have a death wish, but, well…you’re a ghost.”

Sans laughed humorlessly at his own joke, then allowed his magic to flare to life, bones appearing behind him at the snap of his fingers. He was about to launch them at the other monster when June threw herself in the way, shielding Napstablook with her body.

“wha-? kid, get outta the way.”

“No!” she declared, defiant Determination flashing in her eyes. “I won’t let you hurt him, Sans!”

“and why the fuck not? he attacked you, remember?”

“Wouldn’t you have, if you hadn’t known me before I left the Ruins?” she replied darkly. “Wouldn’t Papyrus have? Grillby? Any of the other monsters who saw me with you and your brother?”

Sans grimaced at her words. She was right, but it didn’t take the sting out of them.

“Face it, Sans. You can’t protect me from the entire Underground. Nor would I expect you to. I came down here to die, remember? If it happens before my Soul is fixed, then it happens. Shit happens, and as much as I wanna help, I’m willing to accept that shit happens. But that doesn’t mean you get to attack or hurt or even kill everyone who hurts me. Or, god forbid, the one who actually kills me. I mean, you wouldn’t react like this if it was Asgore harvesting my Soul, would you? No, didn’t think so. So while I can’t tell you to get over it…I’ll repeat some of my first words I said when we talked face to face for the first time. I’m no damsel in distress. I don’t need to be rescued.”

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“yeah, ya do, because it’s my job to make sure you stay alive long enough for us to heal your Soul and use it on the barrier,” Sans snapped back, her words cutting deep. Maybe she was right and he was getting all riled up over nothing, but he wasn’t willing to risk the kid dying to fucking _Napstablook._ And shit, there was the other gash – on her leg, a big dark red splotch slowly growing bigger on the outer thigh of her pant leg. This just made the hurt and anger he felt grow worse, his magic burning in his bones.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

The thing that gave him pause, though…her Soul was shining the brightest he’d seen it yet from her Determination to protect the ghost monster from him, the colors swirling and dancing around each other animatedly. And there was no denying that she was right in the first place, as much as it hurt to admit it.

“U-um…” Napstablook interrupted meekly, Sans glaring harshly at him. June glared just as fiercely at Sans, then nodded for the ghost monster to continue.

“I-I just…I’ve…never had someone try to protect me before. I’ve never had anyone fight for me before. I…I don’t actually want to hurt you…and you’ve been so…not like anyone else here. You’re…something better. Something I think the Underground needs more of. So I…I mean, we’re not supposed to, but…I…I don’t care. I don’t want to fight you. I’ll…I’ll Spare you.”

Sans stared at the little ghost in shock as June beamed at him, shooting the skeleton a smug smirk.

“And I Spare you, um…ya know, I don’t think I got your name,” June realized, blushing faintly in embarrassment. Napstablook blushed as well and floated around a bit as he came to the same realization.

“Oh…I never got yours, either…”

“That’s okay. I’m June. Juniper Skies. Call me June.”

“Oh…it’s so poetic…I’m Napstablook…”

June semi-masked the face she made at the compliment about her name, but managed to straighten out her expression when the ghost mentioned his own name.

“Napstablook…okay, then. Now, let’s end this properly. I Spare you, Napstablook.”

And with that, June’s Soul jumped up from the ground and sank back into her chest, getting a shiver out of her. But with that out of the way, she continued to smile at the ghost before her, mostly ignoring Sans.

That tidbit about her name was useful…so her name wasn’t actually June, and she disliked her real first name. Save that information for later…for now, what to do with her?

“I’m…um…we…should do something about your wounds…”

“Hmm?” June glanced at her arm and leg, grimacing. “Oh, yeah. Those. Right. Yeah, we probably should.”

Sans was just about ready to flip shit on her again. She was being so nonchalant about being badly injured! And for fuck’s sake, why did she make it sound like she forgot she was injured in the first place?! Suicidal, Sans, he reminded himself as he grit his teeth in an effort to keep quiet. She was still suicidal. She probably couldn’t care less that she’s hurt. (Which was going to drive him up the wall, dammit.)

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“I, um, don’t…have anything I can let you have…” Napstablook frowned, floating closer to June and watching her arm bleed. She glanced at the blood with a mixture of mild disgust and disinterest.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“That’s okay. I know a way to take care of it. It’s…not pretty, but it’ll get the job done.”

What was she talking about? Sans realized before he even finished that thought what it was. Her magic. The healing she’d done for him earlier. She could turn that on herself? But wouldn’t that take up a lot of energy? She shouldn’t be pushing her Soul like that when she was so weak! Alarmed, Sans stepped forward, gently grabbing her wrist.

“you don’t need to do that, kid. i got this. just…sit tight right here. i’ll bring you somethin’.”

June frowned at him, staring into his eye sockets like she was searching for something. With those piercing eyes of hers, it was kind of unnerving, since it felt like she was looking right into his Soul when she did it. But eventually, she relaxed the expression on her face and nodded, sighing.

“Alright, Sans. I’m gonna trust you. And I don’t trust lightly, alright? So don’t do something stupid that’ll make me hate you.”

Wow. Nice pressure, there, kid. But the skeleton nodded anyway, letting her go and walking off to teleport without being seen. The closest place he could go to June’s location was either to borrow something from Undyne (which he couldn’t do without explaining why he needed it), or to go buy something from Gerson’s shop. And since Undyne was without a doubt not an option, Gerson’s it was. Once there, he haggled with the old turtle until he managed to get a couple Crabapples and a Sea Tea at a lower rate than normal. He’d owe the old fart, but if it meant keeping the kid alive, it was worth it. Bringing them back, he saw June was now sitting on the ground with Napstablook, his headphones hooked up to a device in her hand.

“This is amazing!” the ghost cried over whatever he was listening to, astonished. June beamed, clearly proud of herself.

“Told you!” she replied, raising her voice to be heard through whatever Napstablook was listening to. What _was_ the ghost listening to, exactly?

“back. what’re you doin’?”

June swiveled her head to face Sans as he approached, turning a bright and relaxed smile on him.

“Showing Napstablook here the wonders of human music,” she grinned. “Particularly, remixes or mash-ups.”

“uh, what?”

“A remix is someone taking an existing song and adding stuff or adjusting things in the song to make it new. A mash-up is when someone takes two or more songs and plays them together. Sometimes adjustments have to be made so the songs actually work together, but when they do, it’s _awesome._ ”

Sans was actually kind of impressed. It sounded a lot like the stuff Napstablook did with his music, and she was telling him humans did that, too. He had to wonder if the humans’ versions were better than what Napstablook was making, though. He hoped so. The ghost monster seemed pretty happy, though…seemed June was making friends after all.

Man, he was going to need a drink after she got settled at home…

“here,” Sans grunted, holding out one of the Crabapples for June. “eat this. it’ll heal ya.”

“But I’m not hungry. We ate not that long ago? At Grillby’s?” June reminded him, looking confused.

“just eat the damn thing,” he answered gruffly, tossing it to her. She raised a hand to catch it – only to flinch, as she was using her uninjured arm to hold the music player for Napstablook. It landed in her lap, luckily, but Sans instantly felt a stab of…something go through him when she looked so pained. She lowered her arm again, grimacing at the 

Napstablook finally took notice of the girl’s plight, floating close enough to pause the music, looking concerned.

“June…are you alright…?”

“no, she’s not fuckin’ alright, ya –”

“Sans,” June hissed sharply, cutting him off. When he glanced at her, he almost flinched from the intensity of her gaze. Those damn eyes of hers…he was certain he’d never get used to them. Eventually, he clicked his tongue and looked away, but he could feel June’s eyes on him far longer than he was really comfortable with.

“Don’t listen to him,” June said gently, and Sans peeked at her to see she was looking at Napstablook. “He’s just mad because he feels like he has to babysit me and I got hurt on his watch.”

“Well…I _was_ the one who attacked you…”

“Maybe, but it was bound to happen eventually. Like I said to Sans…no one down here can protect me forever. Besides, you may be the first one to fight me, but I have a feeling you won’t be the last. At least, the longer I end up staying alive down here, that is,” she added with a casual shrug, finally picking up the Crabapple and taking a bite.

June’s face started to scrunch up, as if she was expecting it to be bad, but she hummed in surprise and relaxed her expression, glancing down at the Crabapple. Sans chuckled, then watched with a careful eye as she munched away at it happily, glad to see her wounds closing up already. Once she finished it, her wounds were…not fully healed, but a good chunk of the way there. They were bleeding a lot less, and significantly smaller than before. Good. Maybe now it was safe to move her…?

“hey, kid. ya done playin’ with napstablook?”

Both the ghost monster and the girl glanced up at him, frowning.

“Do we have to go?” she asked, sounding disappointed he even asked.

“depends. can you get up and walk alright?”

June frowned at the ground, seeming to consider it. She then sighed, pressed a button on her music player, disconnected it from Napstablook’s headphones, and slowly attempted to stand. Napstablook hovered closer to her, as if anticipating she would need help, but despite the grimace on her face, she managed to get to her feet on her own. She still favored her injured leg, but it wasn’t as bad now. Once she was up and stable, Napstablook shifted a little further away, trying to make it look like he wasn’t concerned about her.

“Step one accomplished,” June finally huffed darkly. “But walking’s gonna be a challenge.”

Sans nodded, expecting as much.

“then eat this while you walk.”

He handed her the other Crabapple, and June eyed it critically for a moment before sighing and nodding, her expression briefly turning into a soft pout. When she turned to Napstablook, though, she managed a small smile for him.

“Guess I have to go. But maybe we can hang out again sometime? Listen to some more music?”

Napstablook started to smile, then controlled his expression to remain neutral.

“Sure, I guess…” the ghost sighed with a shrug. June gave him a funny look before shaking her head and turning back to Sans.

“Guess we should get going. Lead the way, ‘cause I have no idea how I actually got here.”

“figured as much,” Sans snorted, gently looping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her away.

June munched on the Crabapple as they walked, like he told her to, and before long, she wasn’t limping anymore, though her wounds were still visible. He handed her the Sea Tea by the time they reached the edge of Snowdin, the walk quiet the whole time. (Her face when she drank the Sea Tea was great, since she almost spat it out. But he made her finish it, then finally draped her jacket around her thin shoulders. She looked surprised, as if she had forgotten she didn’t have it, and murmured a thanks as she tugged it tight around herself.)

When they reached the house, Sans let her in first, then followed. Better to get yelled at for letting her get away before he went to Grillby’s rather than after. But when they walked through the door, Alphys was the one to rush up to them, catching the girl before she could get far.

“Thank the stars you’re back! A-are you alright? You seem t-tired. Are you tired? Do you n-need to rest? I don’t know that much about human needs, a-and I’m the only monster with human experience that won’t try to k-kill you!”

“Calm down, doc,” June sighed, pulling out of Alphys’ clawed grip gently. “I’m alright. But I _am_ tired, so resting doesn’t sound so bad.”

“O-oh. Good, good. Well, let’s get you settled on the couch, then…I’ve got plenty of blankets I can share…”

June huffed and sighed regularly as Alphys fussed about her, but Sans didn’t get to see much of it, since Papyrus scooped him up and carried him upstairs. Great, the taller skeleton was taking this to a private location. This was going to end well.

“SANS,” Papyrus stated calmly as soon as the door to his own room was shut. “DR. ALPHYS TRIED TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS ON PATROL, BUT SHE WAS STUTTERING SO MUCH, IT WAS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND HER. I DEMAND YOU BRIEF ME ON WHAT OCCURRED IN MY ABSENCE, AND WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU WENT TO RETRIEVE THE HUMAN.”

Sans bit back a sigh and first explained all the happened with June before she ran out the door. He spoke more hesitantly once he had to explain what happened to her in Waterfall, but he got through it without Papyrus prompting, interrupting, or exploding. This was a pretty good sign, actually.

“I SEE,” Papyrus said, his words clipped. He then sighed, pinching between his eye sockets as he absorbed all the information and considered it.

“SO THE HUMAN…IS FAR MORE LIKE US THAN WE REALIZED. AND YET, IT…SHE…IS NOT. SHE STILL HAS SOME MEASURE OF MERCY IN HER. EVEN WHEN IT COULD HAVE GOTTEN HER KILLED…WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH HER, SANS? SHE IS…FAR MORE DAMAGED THAN I HAD ANTICIPATED. HOW DO WE FIX THE KIND OF OBVIOUS ISSUES THIS HUMAN HAS?”

Sans was stunned. Papyrus…wasn’t angry with him? Papyrus was trying to be understanding and compassionate? I just didn’t seem to make any sense. But at the same time, Sans could understand where his brother was coming from. He himself had wondered the same thing when Toriel had first made him swear to protect June. But now…

“i dunno, boss. but stuff like her just talking to grillbz and having a tickle fight with alphys and listening to music with napstablook? i think stuff like that will go a long way to helping her heal. it’ll take a while, but as long as we can keep her alive and show her someone out there actually gives a damn about her…i think she’ll be alright. eventually.”

Papyrus looked troubled by Sans’ answer, but only sighed as a response. He finally waved at Sans, signaling that he was free to leave now, and the shorter skeleton hesitated, still weirded out by the fact that Papyrus wasn’t angry or yelling. He did leave his brother’s room, however, to see Alphys finally having calmed down and snuggled up under a blanket next to June. The girl in question appeared to be sound asleep, her head propped on Alphys’ shoulder. It was a rather sweet and endearing sight that tugged at his Soul…in a good way, for once. (June looked very peaceful while she slept, he noted. He wondered if that was creepy or not. He decided it didn’t matter and shook it off.)

Quietly shuffling to the front door, he jumped when a soft voice whispered, “Where are you going?”

He turned to see that June wasn’t as asleep as she appeared to be, but damn near close to it. He came back over so neither one would have to raise their voice.

“just out to grillbz for a drink. i won’t be far. but don’t stay up waiting for me, okay, kid? get some rest. you need it.”

June sighed, then yawned, and nodded, nestling a little more comfortably against Alphys.

“Jus’ be careful,” she slurred, already mostly asleep. “N’ don’ get drunk.”

Sans paused when she said that, but the sting from her words left when he considered it. With her experience of drunks limited to just her abusive father (at least, he hoped it was limited to just that), it made sense she wouldn’t want to see him like that, too. But he wasn’t looking to get plastered tonight anyway. (Even if he really wanted to.) No, he intended to stay lucid enough to rant to Grillby about everything that had happened after they had left his bar earlier. And damn did he now have a story to tell…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Section Summaries:** June is a bit surprised when Napstablook attacks her, but gets a look of Determination as she attempts to dodge his attacks. However, it's clear she's not as good at it as Frisk, since her Soul gets hit twice, back to back. Sans sees a gash appear on June's arm after taking the hit to her Soul, but with two hits, he doesn't initially see where the other injury is.
> 
> “yeah, ya do, because it’s my job to make sure you stay alive long enough for us to heal your Soul and use it on the barrier,” Sans snapped back, her words cutting deep. Maybe she was right and he was getting all riled up over nothing, but he wasn’t willing to risk the kid dying to fucking _Napstablook._ (He then notices where the other gash ended up as a stain becomes visible on her outer thigh.)  
>  Napstablook and June both glance to her injuries, June with a mix disgust and disinterest.
> 
> So, shorter chapter this week. But it's kinda fun to see the kind of trouble June can get into on her own, eh? Oh, and the song she was singing when Sans found her, [Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKNlWexbGQc) if anyone wants to listen to it. Anyway, I don't have much else to say this week, so I hope you guys inejoyed this one, and see you next week for more!


	6. Author's Note

Hey, guys. Singing_Dream, here. So, let me start by saying I really didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to be the author that updated, but instead of putting a chapter up, it was a notice to the readers. I’m understanding when it happens to the authors of the stories I read, but I never wanted it to be me. Unfortunately, my hand is being forced.

So, I do a lot of writing. And I do it quite frequently. And the thing about that is…I don’t keep back-ups of my writing. I’m adding to it and updating my writing too often for me to keep accurate back-up files. Which automatically sounds bad, right? Well, it gets worse. I had been working on a new chapter for Six Knights, Two Princesses when my boyfriend demanded my attention. So I let him have it for a few minutes, but when I tried to get back to my writing, he started messing with me and horsing around. That would have been all fine and good…if the horsing around hadn’t knocked my laptop to the floor. With my flash drive still connected.

The worst part of the whole thing? That flash drive is the one I keep all of my writing on, not just my Undertale stuff. My fanfiction, my poetry, my original works, my resume… _everything._ And now the flash drive is bent a bit and won’t read in my laptop. Which is why the author’s note. I can’t actually access my writing right now, so updates are coming to a grinding halt until I can either get it fixed, or get the data off it and onto a new flash drive. Until then, please bear with me, guys.

For Six Knights, Two Princesses, there won’t really be much of a noticeable difference. I’ve already missed an update because I didn’t have a new chapter ready in time. But now I can say for sure that there won’t be one until I can access my work again.

For Orange and Blueberry Skies and The Skeleton and the Pauper, there will be a noticeable change, since I’m going to miss the next update or two until I can get my writing back.

For Breaching the Multiverse, there might not be a noticeable change, since my co-author, Book_Warrior7 has a (not recently updated, but still currently useful) copy of my writing as well. She should be able to post the chapters in my stead for the time being.

And for Beyond the Multiverse, since it didn’t have a set posting schedule anyway, there won’t be any change from my end at all. (Though if anyone was reading that one its own since it’s bonus content for Breaching the Multiverse, I would question why you’re doing so.)

I’m posting this to all of my current works, since it’s going to be at least a week as of posting this before I can get back to my writings, and you all deserve to know what’s going on instead of radio silence for that week. And please know I am really, incredibly sorry to have to do this. As it stands, if/when I can get my writings back, I will replace this author’s note with a double chapter update proper (if I am able) to make up for the missed updates.

Again, I’m really sorry this happened, but until I can fix it, most everything is going on hiatus. I hope you guys can forgive me and be patient until I can come back.

With much love and respect,

Singing_Dream


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